Henry Emanuel Cohen (1 December 1840 – 5 January 1912) was a judge and politician in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Cohen was born in

Port Macquarie, New South Wales Port Macquarie, sometimes shortened to Port Mac and commonly locally nicknamed Port, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane, on the Tasman Sea coast at the mouth of the ...

, the second son of Abraham Cohen of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. In 1848 his family moved and in 1855 they moved to

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, approximately south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters patent by Queen Victor ...

where Cohen attended

private schools A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their financial endowme ...

In 1856 at age 16 he started work as a

clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include Records managem ...

at David Cohen and Company, first in

then moved to

West Maitland Maitland () is a city in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River, New South Wales, Hunter River approximately by road north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle, New S ...

until 1864, when he resigned. He went into business with his twin brother George operating a store in Bathurst until it was closed in 1867. He then left for London, where he studied Law at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

. In June 1871 he was called to the English Bar, returned to Sydney, and on 15 December 1871 he was admitted to the New South Wales Bar. On 21 December 1874 Cohen was elected for

in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...

. He was Colonial Treasurer in the

James Farnell James Squire Farnell (25 June 1825 – 21 August 1888) was an Australian politician and Premier of New South Wales. Farnell was a hard-working legislator who gave much study to the land question and also tried hard for some years to pass a bill ...

Ministry from December 1877 to December 1878. In May 1881 he was appointed

District Court District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations, some call them "small case court" usually as the lowest level of the hierarchy. These courts generally work under a higher court which exercises control over the lower co ...

Judge for the Sydney Metropolitan and Coast District, but resigned the position, and re-entered politics, being

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

in the Alexander Stuart Cabinet from January 1883 to October 1885. Cohen was appointed acting judge of the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian States and territories of Australia, State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil law (common law), civil matters, and hears ...

on 19 July 1895, and in 1896 accepted an offer of a permanent position on the bench. Cohen was inaugural president of the Arbitration Court, 1 April 1902 to 3 July 1905. Fanny, Lady Benjamin (c. 1839 – 18 February 1912), wife of Sir Benjamin Benjamin, MLC and

mayor of Melbourne This is a list of mayors and lord mayor, lord mayors of the City of Melbourne, a Local government in Australia, local government area of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Mayors (1842–1902) Lord mayors (1902–1980) The title o ...

, was a sister. In December 1910 he requested leave of absence from the Supreme Court. In March 1911 he departed Sydney to visit England, France and Germany. On 5 January 1912 he died on board the SS ''Friedrich der Grosse''. He is buried at Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney.

References

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* 1840 births 1912 deaths Judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales Colony of New South Wales judges Judges of the District Court of NSW 19th-century Australian judges 20th-century Australian judges Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Jews Treasurers of New South Wales {{Australia-politician-stub Ministers for justice (New South Wales)