The laws of England were introduced in Australia with the arrival of the first fleet.
The first governor of the colony, Arthur Phillip, was authorised to convene a criminal court in the colony of New South Wales by an act of the English parliament. Further a Charter of Justice created a civil jurisdiction and Letters Patent a Vice Admiralty Court. These courts were run along military lines and were often constituted by a panel. The office of Justice of the Peace was an old one at English law and was adapted for local conditions in the colony and heard cases such as breaches of the peace, petty larcenies, prisoners charged with neglect of work and trivial complaints of drunkenness and disorderly behaviour.
Researchers may have discovered their ancestors having brushes with the law and being brought before justices or a police magistrate. This presentation will explain the reasons behind the creation of the office of police magistrate, which appears to be peculiar to the Australian colonies and originated in New South Wales before being established in Queensland with separation.
It will also discuss the interaction and differences between Justices of the Peace, magistrates, police magistrates, stipendiary magistrates and judges and examine the types of justice meted out by those appointed to these positions.

Presenter:
Kay Ryan

Kay Ryan is a retired magistrate of the Magistrates Court of Queensland. She has a keen interest in history, particularly family, local and social history and first started researching her family history in the 1990s. Apart from a Bachelor of Laws, Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice and a Master of Laws from Queensland University of Technology, Kay holds a Graduate Diploma in Local and Applied History and a Master of History from University of New England. She was involved with the establishment of History Queensland Inc. and served on its committee as its treasurer for a number of years until her appointment as a magistrate in 2008. She also served on the Public Records Review Committee from 2003 to 2008, as a community representative. Whilst still doing some magisterial relief work, retirement has enabled Kay to pursue her interest in history, and she is the current president of History Queensland. She was also the winner of the 2024 Joan Reese Memorial Short Story Competition awarded by the Genealogical Society of Queensland. Her first non-fiction book about her German ancestors in Queensland was published in 2022 and she is currently researching and writing about her husband’s ancestors. Her other interests include music and theatre, performing with the Toowoomba Choral Society. She has recently discovered that her paternal great-grandparents Jack and Maria Leaver also performed in amateur theatrics.

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