David Sutherland Edwards (19 September 1871 – 21 July 1936) was an Australian judge of the

District Court of New South Wales The District Court of New South Wales is the intermediate court in the judicial hierarchy of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is a trial court and has an appellate jurisdiction. In addition, the Judges of the Court preside over a ran ...

, a NSW Electoral Commissioner and Royal Commissioner.

Early life

Edwards was born in Coonabarabran, New South Wales a son of Frederick William Edwards,

Stipendiary Magistrate Stipendiary magistrates were magistrates that were paid for their work (they received a stipend). They existed in the judiciaries of the United Kingdom and those of several former British territories, where they sat in the lowest-level criminal ...

. From Coonabarabran Public School he won a scholarship to

West Maitland High School West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

. Three years later, when his father was promoted from police magistrate to stipendiary magistrate and was transferred to Sydney, he became a pupil at

Newington College , motto_translation = To Faith Add Knowledge , location = Inner West and Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = A ...

(1889–1891). At the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

he graduated

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four ye ...

, with

first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

and second-class honours in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, in 1895, and gained his LL.B. degree in 1899. From 1895 to 1897, whilst a student at the university, he was on the teaching staff of Newington College.

Tennis career

Edwards was an excellent tennis player, and represented

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

against Victoria in 1896, 1898, 1899 (twice), 1900, and 1901 (twice). On one occasion, though not in an interstate match, he defeated Norman Brookes.

Legal career

After graduating Edwards read for the Bar with C. B. Stephen and Sir William Owen. Upon his admission he practised at the Bar with until his elevation to the Bench of the

on 1 July 1924. He was appointed Electoral Commissioner for New South Wales on 19 February 1929, and retained that position, in addition to his Judgeship, until November 1934. He was chairman of the Commission which dealt with State electoral boundaries in 1931, and also sat on the Royal Commission on the Federal Land Tax. He resigned from the Bench in July 1935, because of failing health.

Publications

He was the author of a Manual for Justices, and, in collaboration with Herbert Curlewis, he wrote a book on prohibitions, both at common law and under the Justices Act. In collaboration with E. A. A. Russell, he edited a standard work on the Commonwealth Bills of Exchange Act in 1912, and he also collaborated with W. Tighe and Percival Halse Rogers in producing a work on the Workers' Compensation Act in 1916.NLA Catalogue
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Family

In 1910, Edwards married Beatrice Elmer, who on his death survived him. They had three sons, Colin, Phillp David, and Maxwell Sutherland, and one daughter, Elmer Nancy. Edwards died at home in

Ashfield, New South Wales Ashfield is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Ashfield is about 8 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district. Ashfield's population is highly multicultural. Its urban density is ...

and the funeral took place at

Rookwood Cemetery Rookwood Cemetery (officially named Rookwood Necropolis) is a heritage-listed cemetery in Rookwood, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world's largest remaining operating ...

after a service at St. Andrew's Anglican Church, Summer Hill.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, David 1871 births 1936 deaths 20th-century Australian judges Judges of the District Court of NSW People educated at Newington College Staff of Newington College Sportspeople from Sydney Tennis people from New South Wales Sydney Law School alumni