Samuel Way makes controversial rise to dominate the supreme court for decades
Chief justice Samuel Way refused an offer to sit on high court of Australian in 1906.
Image courtesy State Library of South Australia
Samuel Way’s Australian-record 40 years (1876-1916) as chief justice of South Australia’s supreme court were a triumph of hard work over qualifications and social advantage.
Born (in 1836) and educated in England, Samuel Way joined his family (his father was a Bible Christian minister) in Adelaide in 1853.
Articled to Alfred Atkinson, Way was admitted to the Bar on 1861. He took over the legal practice as a junior lawyer when Atkinson died. As a barrister, Way soon led the legal community and in 1868 joined a partnership with a James Brook. A young Josiah Symon later joined Way in this firm.
Way became involved in several high-profile cases, including appeals in England to the Privy Council. He took silk in 1871, despite only being admitted to the Bar for 10 years.
Way was elected to the House of Assembly in 1875 and became attorney general in James Boucaut’s ministry. When chief justice Richard Hanson died the next year, Way replaced him – an appointment that caused other judges to ostracise him. Since the attorney general made judicial appointments, it was suggested Way nominated himself.
Edward Gwynne, despite his seniority, was never appointed chief justice. His judge colleague Randolph Stow (appointed 1875) was also unhappy at Way's appointment. Gwynne refused to talk privately with Way and his unwillingness to adjust to Way’s new court procedures led to him retiring retirement in 1878.
Way dominated the court for 19 years with the same puisne judges: James Boucat (the former premier, appointed 1878) and William Bundey (1884)
Way presided over royal commissions, notably (1883) into the Destitute Act and the plight of boys on a rotting hulk used as a reformatory; and the servitude of unmarried mothers.
Honoured by Oxford and Cambridge universities, Way sat as a colonial judge on the Privy Council’s judicial committee in London in 1897.
Controversially appointed (by the governor, the earl of Kintore – a fellow freemason, without the government cabinet’s knowledge) as lieutenant governor for life in 1890, Way became vice-chancellor and chancellor of the University of Adelaide, despite criticism that he had no tertiary qualifications. President of the public library, museum and art gallery, he was active in Freemasonry and Methodism.
While not officially part in the Australian federation movement, he tried behind the scenes to prevent leave of appeal from the Australian high court to the Privy Council in England. Way distrusted the high court and in 1906 he refused a seat on it. In 1909, he had a decision (Dashwood v. Maslin) reversed, for the first time in 43 years, by the high court.
