William James Fitzgerald (jurist)

Sir William James Fitzgerald (May 1894 – July 1989) was a British and Irish jurist who served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Palestine during the time of the British Mandate.

Fitzgerald was born in Cappawhite, County Tipperary, Ireland in May 1894. He attended Blackrock College and Trinity College Dublin

During World War I he served in the Durham Light Infantry. He was awarded the Military Cross and the Croix de Guerre.

In 1922 he was called to the Bar of Ireland (at the King's Inns, Dublin) and the Bar of England and Wales (at the Middle Temple, London.)

He was appointed Crown Counsel (a public prosecutor) in the colonial government of Nigeria in 1924. In 1932, he was appointed Solicitor-General in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia); he became the Attorney General there in the following year. In 1937, he was appointed Attorney General of Palestine, at the time under British mandate. In 1944, he was appointed Chief Justice.

In 1945, following Arab claims that the Arab population was underrepresented in the Jerusalem city council, the High Commissioner, Lord Gort, appointed Fitzgerald to investigate the issue and offer a solution. On 28 August Fitzgerald issued his report, which proposed dividing the city into autonomous Jewish and Arab boroughs.

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