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The Governors Court was a court established in the early 19th century in the colony of New South Wales. The colony was subsequently to become a state of Australia in 1901. The court had jurisdiction to deal with civil disputes where the amount in dispute in the colony was not more than £50 sterling. The Supreme Court of New South Wales replaced the court in 1823 when the Supreme Court was created by the Third Charter of Justice. ==Background== The British government established the colony of New South Wales primarily as a penal colony with the intention of encouraging later settlement. Captain Arthur Phillip was appointed as the colony’s first governor and did much to ensure the colony survived and transformed into a modern colonial outpost Notwithstanding its beginnings as a penal colony, it soon prospered as a booming agricultural and mercantile colony. With the increased prosperity came the need for better access to forms of civil justice. Systems for the resolution of commercial disputes are an important part of the common law tradition in British based legal systems, particularly with the establishment of the rule of law. The British authorities foresaw the need for a civil judicial system to be established when the colony was first established. A court styled the “Court of Civil Jurisdiction” was established by the First Charter of Justice as well as a Court of Vice-Admiralty pursuant to letters patent from the High Admiralty in Great Britain. The Governor of New South Wales would also in time authorise magistrates (the common name for justices of the peace in the colony at the time) to determine smaller debt claims that were taking up the time of these original civil courts. Hilary Golder points to research that magistrates were in fact dealing with small debt claims as early 1789, one year after the commencement of the colony. Ellis Bent, the first barrister appointed as deputy judge advocate for the colony, made recommendations to Governor Lachlan Macquarie for the establishment of new civil courts to reflect the changing nature of the society from a penal colony to a trading colony. This reflected the public sentiment in New South Wales that it was time for a legally qualified judge to head a superior court in the colony, rather than a military officer who happened to have legal qualifications. Macquarie supported this and eventually the British authorities arranged for new charters to issue for the reform of the civil courts. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Governors Court」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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