James Dowling

Australian politician

Sir James Dowling (25 November 1787 – 27 September 1844) was an English born Australian jurist in New South Wales, Chief Justice of New South Wales 1837 – 1844.

James Dowling was born in London, England, the son of Vincent Dowling (1756–1825) of Queen's County, Ireland, and brother of Alfred Septimus Dowling (1805–1868), a British law reporter, Vincent George Dowling, & 2 other brothers. Educated at St Paul's School, he later became a parliamentary reporter, studied law and was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in May 1815. He edited the second edition of W. Paley's Law and Practice of Summary Convictions, and was also responsible for several volumes of Reports of Cases.

Dowling applied to the Colonial Office for an appointment in June 1827 and on 6 August 1827 he was appointed third judge at Sydney, where he arrived in February 1828. He acted with consideration and tact over a question of precedence which immediately arose. Governor Ralph Darling held that the terms of his commission placed Dowling next in precedence to the chief justice, Francis Forbes, while John Stephen, the other judge, said that in England such questions were decided by seniority. Dowling said that the matter should be referred to the home authorities, and that in the meantime Stephen should take precedence. The question was settled in favour of Stephen's view, and Dowling accepted the position of junior judge. The state of Stephen's health, however, threw a good deal of work on the shoulders of Dowling. In June 1832, he found it necessary to defend his judgment in a particular case which had been criticised in letters printed in the Sydney Monitor, and was assured by Viscount Goderich that he would not permit himself "to entertain even a momentary impression to his prejudice". In December Stephen retired and Dowling became second judge. In January 1834, some remarks of Dowling's on the conduct of a criminal trial led to the three judges drawing up an important memorandum suggesting many possible improvements in dealing with criminal cases. In April 1837, Forbes retired from his office, and Dowling was appointed chief justice on 29 August 1837. John Walpole Willis arrived at Sydney in November 1837 to take the position of third judge; conflict between Willis and the Chief Justice reached such a level that for the sake of peace Governor Gipps transferred Willis to Melbourne in January 1841. Following the brutal killing of 28 unarmed Aboriginal Australians in the Myall Creek massacre on 10 June 1838, Dowling presided over the first trial in which a jury acquitted eleven colonists of the murder of one person, referred to as Daddy. Dowling also sat in the Full Bench which determined questions of law following the conviction of seven colonists of the murder of two children and an adult referred to as Charley. In June 1843, Dowling expressed his willingness to act as speaker of the new Legislative Council, but Gipps ruled against this as he considered it would not be in the public interest. In August 1844 Dowling was granted 18 months leave of absence due to a breakdown in his health, but he died soon after on 27 September 1844. South Dowling Street in Sydney is named after him.