Wilfred Fullagar
Encyclopedia
Sir Wilfred Kelsham Fullagar, KBE
, KC (16 November 1892 – 9 July 1961) was a judge on the High Court of Australia
.
, Melbourne
, on 16 November 1892. He was educated at Haileybury College. He studied at the University of Melbourne
, where he resided at Ormond College
. He graduated from the university with a Master of Arts and Master of Laws, also winning the Supreme Court of Victoria
's Prize in Law.
he served in the 27th Battery, Australian Field Artillery, part of the First Australian Imperial Force
, enlisting as a Gunner on 28 October 1916 and retiring as a Sergeant in 1919. In October of that year, he married Marion Lovejoy in London
, with whom he would later have five sons (including Richard Fullagar, a future Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria). After returning to Australia, he was employed by the Government of Australia
, first in the Repatriation Department, and then in the Department of Immigration. He was admitted to the Victorian Bar
in 1922.
and legal procedure. He would later return to lecture from 1943 to 1945 in Australian constitutional law
. He made several appearances before the High Court, and in 1932 appeared in three cases argued before the Privy Council
, including the inconspicuously named but significant Dried Fruits case, and Attorney-General (NSW) v Trethowan, the case that considered whether a referendum
was necessary to abolish the Legislative Council of New South Wales. Fullagar was junior counsel in those cases to Sir William Jowitt
, a future Lord Chancellor
, and Sir John Latham, a future Chief Justice of Australia
, respectively.
In 1933 he was made a King's Counsel and in 1938 he served as the Vice-President of the Law Council of Australia
. In 1942 he was appointed as a director
of Argus & Australasian Limited, the company that owned The Argus
newspaper. Also in that year he remarried, to Mary Taylor, his first wife having died in 1941.
. Later that year he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
. On the High Court, he came to be regarded as one of the greatest Australian judges of his generation. He contributed to the Australian High Court being considered in the 1950s as one of the leading appellate courts in the common law world, and many of his judgments in a variety of areas of law are still regarded as classics. Important cases on which he sat included Jackson v Goldsmith (1950) (where his dissenting judgment set out the law relating to issue estoppel), the Communist Party Dissolution Case (1951), Wilson v Darling Island Stevedoring (1956) (an influential exposition of the exceptions to privity of contract), Williams v Hursey (1959) (a trade union case arising from the ALP/DLP split) and Dennis Hotels v Victoria (1960) (a constitutional case concerning excise duties).
Fullagar sat on the bench of the High Court until his death of a stroke on 9 July 1961. Tributes on his death included the following from then Chief Justice Sir Owen Dixon
:
"His learning, the certainty of his grasp of legal principle and the width and profundity of his knowledge of the law are qualities which without more would have assured him a special position not only among his colleagues but among all who are concerned in the work of the law. But it was his fortune to combine a most lovable nature with which won a place in the hearts of all of us with a powerful intelligence, clear and strong, yet at the same time calm and deliberate in its processes."
US Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter
(writing to Dixon) said:
"The Times brings me the shocking news of Fullagar's death. ... So close was my professional communion with Fullagar, solely through the printed page, that I feel his death as a personal loss, though I never - to my great regret - laid eyes on him."
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, KC (16 November 1892 – 9 July 1961) was a judge on the High Court of Australia
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...
.
Early Life and Studies
Wilfred Kelsham Fullagar was born in MalvernMalvern, Victoria
Malvern is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 8 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Stonnington. At the 2006 Census, Malvern had a population of 9,422.-History:...
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, on 16 November 1892. He was educated at Haileybury College. He studied at the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
, where he resided at Ormond College
Ormond College (University of Melbourne)
Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne. It is home to 332 undergraduates, 30 postgraduates and 27 professorial/academic residents.-Establishment:...
. He graduated from the university with a Master of Arts and Master of Laws, also winning the Supreme Court of Victoria
Supreme Court of Victoria
The Supreme Court of Victoria is the superior court for the State of Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1852, and is a superior court of common law and equity, with unlimited jurisdiction within the state...
's Prize in Law.
War Service and Early Professional Career
During World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
he served in the 27th Battery, Australian Field Artillery, part of the First Australian Imperial Force
First Australian Imperial Force
The First Australian Imperial Force was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during World War I. It was formed from 15 August 1914, following Britain's declaration of war on Germany. Generally known at the time as the AIF, it is today referred to as the 1st AIF to distinguish from...
, enlisting as a Gunner on 28 October 1916 and retiring as a Sergeant in 1919. In October of that year, he married Marion Lovejoy in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, with whom he would later have five sons (including Richard Fullagar, a future Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria). After returning to Australia, he was employed by the Government of Australia
Government of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...
, first in the Repatriation Department, and then in the Department of Immigration. He was admitted to the Victorian Bar
Victorian Bar
The Victorian Bar is the bar association for the Australian State of Victoria. Its members are barristers registered to practice in Victoria. On 19 January 2006, there were 1627 counsel practising as members of the Victorian Bar. Once a barrister has been admitted to practice by the Supreme Court...
in 1922.
Career as Barrister
Fullagar lectured at the University of Melbourne from 1923 to 1928, in tortTort
A tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a wrong that involves a breach of a civil duty owed to someone else. It is differentiated from a crime, which involves a breach of a duty owed to society in general...
and legal procedure. He would later return to lecture from 1943 to 1945 in Australian constitutional law
Australian constitutional law
Australian constitutional law is the area of the law of Australia relating to the interpretation and application of the Constitution of Australia. Several major doctrines of Australian constitutional law have developed....
. He made several appearances before the High Court, and in 1932 appeared in three cases argued before the Privy Council
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is one of the highest courts in the United Kingdom. Established by the Judicial Committee Act 1833 to hear appeals formerly heard by the King in Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is one of the highest courts in the United...
, including the inconspicuously named but significant Dried Fruits case, and Attorney-General (NSW) v Trethowan, the case that considered whether a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
was necessary to abolish the Legislative Council of New South Wales. Fullagar was junior counsel in those cases to Sir William Jowitt
William Jowitt, 1st Earl Jowitt
William Allen Jowitt, 1st Earl Jowitt PC, KC , was a British Labour politician and lawyer, who served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain under Clement Attlee from 1945 to 1951.-Background and education:...
, a future Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
, and Sir John Latham, a future Chief Justice of Australia
Chief Justice of Australia
The Chief Justice of Australia is the informal title for the presiding justice of the High Court of Australia and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Commonwealth of Australia...
, respectively.
In 1933 he was made a King's Counsel and in 1938 he served as the Vice-President of the Law Council of Australia
Law Council of Australia
The Law Council of Australia is an association of law societies and bar associations from the States and territories of Australia, and the peak body representing the legal profession in Australia. The Council was formed in 1933 to unite the various state legal associations, in order to represent...
. In 1942 he was appointed as a director
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of Argus & Australasian Limited, the company that owned The Argus
The Argus (Australia)
The Argus was a morning daily newspaper in Melbourne established in 1846 and closed in 1957. Widely known as a conservative newspaper for most of its history, it adopted a left leaning approach from 1949...
newspaper. Also in that year he remarried, to Mary Taylor, his first wife having died in 1941.
Judicial career
On 1 August 1945 he was made a Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria. He held that position until his appointment to the High Court on 8 February 1950, when he filled the vacancy left by the resignation of Sir Hayden StarkeHayden Starke
Sir Hayden Erskine Starke KCMG , an Australian judge, was a justice of the High Court of Australia.Starke was born in the town of Creswick, Victoria in 1871...
. Later that year he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
. On the High Court, he came to be regarded as one of the greatest Australian judges of his generation. He contributed to the Australian High Court being considered in the 1950s as one of the leading appellate courts in the common law world, and many of his judgments in a variety of areas of law are still regarded as classics. Important cases on which he sat included Jackson v Goldsmith (1950) (where his dissenting judgment set out the law relating to issue estoppel), the Communist Party Dissolution Case (1951), Wilson v Darling Island Stevedoring (1956) (an influential exposition of the exceptions to privity of contract), Williams v Hursey (1959) (a trade union case arising from the ALP/DLP split) and Dennis Hotels v Victoria (1960) (a constitutional case concerning excise duties).
Fullagar sat on the bench of the High Court until his death of a stroke on 9 July 1961. Tributes on his death included the following from then Chief Justice Sir Owen Dixon
Owen Dixon
Sir Owen Dixon, OM, GCMG, KC Australian judge and diplomat, was the sixth Chief Justice of Australia. A justice of the High Court for thirty-five years, Dixon was one of the leading jurists in the English-speaking world and is widely regarded as Australia's greatest ever jurist.-Education:Dixon...
:
"His learning, the certainty of his grasp of legal principle and the width and profundity of his knowledge of the law are qualities which without more would have assured him a special position not only among his colleagues but among all who are concerned in the work of the law. But it was his fortune to combine a most lovable nature with which won a place in the hearts of all of us with a powerful intelligence, clear and strong, yet at the same time calm and deliberate in its processes."
US Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.-Early life:Frankfurter was born into a Jewish family on November 15, 1882, in Vienna, Austria, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Europe. He was the third of six children of Leopold and Emma Frankfurter...
(writing to Dixon) said:
"The Times brings me the shocking news of Fullagar's death. ... So close was my professional communion with Fullagar, solely through the printed page, that I feel his death as a personal loss, though I never - to my great regret - laid eyes on him."
See also
- Judiciary of AustraliaJudiciary of AustraliaThe judiciary in Australia is modelled substantially on the system of courts which existed in England.The large number of courts and tribunals in Australia have different procedural powers and characteristics, different jurisdictional limits, different remedial powers and different cost...
- High Court of AustraliaHigh Court of AustraliaThe High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...
- List of Judges of the Supreme Court of Victoria
- Victorian Bar AssociationVictorian BarThe Victorian Bar is the bar association for the Australian State of Victoria. Its members are barristers registered to practice in Victoria. On 19 January 2006, there were 1627 counsel practising as members of the Victorian Bar. Once a barrister has been admitted to practice by the Supreme Court...