Court of Civil Jurisdiction

The Court of Civil Jurisdiction was a court established in the late 18th century in the colony of New South Wales which subsequently became a state of Australia. The court had jurisdiction to deal with all civil disputes in the then fledgling colony. It was in operation between 1788, the date of establishment of the new colony, and 1814.

The British government established the colony of New South Wales primarily as a penal colony with the intention of encouraging later settlement. Notwithstanding this, the colony’s principal purpose was to house prisoners from Great Britain. Captain Arthur Phillip was appointed as the colony’s first governor.

The British authorities foresaw the need for a judicial system to be established in the colony to deal with civil matters. This was to be the present court, styled as the “Court of Civil Jurisdiction”, and established by a charter, as well a Court of Vice-Admiralty pursuant to letters from the High Admiralty in Great Britain. In time, the colony would take to authorising justices of the peace to determine smaller debt claims that were taking up the time of these original civil courts established. The institution of these first courts in the then fledgling colony were important first steps in establishment of the rule of law in Australia.

The court was created by the First Charter of Justice, issued by King George III in the form of letters patent dated 2 April 1787. The Court of Civil Jurisdiction as established by the Charter was composed of the Deputy Judge Advocate of New South Wales, who was commonly known in the colony as the “judge-advocate”, and two other persons appointed to the court by the Governor of New South Wales. The judge-advocate was the presiding officer. The court had jurisdiction to hear and determine summarily actions relating to land, houses, debt, contract, trespass, and most other common law or equitable cases of any amount.

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