'John Lewes Pedder (1793-1859): Some new perspectives on a colonial judge'

Foundation chief justice of the Supreme Court of Van Diemen's Land, Sir John Lewes Pedder (1793 1859) was a central figure in the colonial administration and settler society from 1824 until his retirement in 1854. Appointed by the Colonial Office to administer English law in an experimental superior court which extended full civil and criminal jurisdiction to the penal colony for the first time Pedder also served as a member of the executive and legislative councils. In these ex-officio roles he provided legal policy and legislative advice to a series of lieutenant-governors."