Support Materials Concerning Judge Willis

Support Materials Concerning Judge Willis

Throughout this site we have developed and published a range of support materials to assist researchers in their use of the transcripts that are drawn from the Judge Willis Casebooks. There are transcripts of five criminal casebooks and one civil case book concerning Victoria. Each transcript is available as web page and PDF (for printing). All transcripts contain a Case List (at the beginning) and a Commentary on each individual case. A Case List and a Name Index are provided as separate web pages to provide additional access for researchers across all five case books. Willis also sat on some cases in Port Phillip which were recorded in the press but do not appear in his case books. These are recorded in the document, Cases Not in Note Books (Word/.doc, 72 KB) and are included in the name index.

Whilst each transcript contains helpful expert commentary, there is also a Glossary to explain legal terms and varied/specific language usage, a Timeline and a raft of materials that discuss and contextualise Colonial Melbourne and its early legal system.

Box 55 Documents

Box 55 transcripts and commentary are also included on this website. These documents can be related to John Walpole Willis’ work as a Judge, either in Sydney or Melbourne. There is evidence, such as in Behan’s biography, and from what researchers actually saw, that most of these documents were originally in Willis’ Court Casebooks but that, over the years, they were removed and eventually collected into what is now contained within Box 55 of the RHSV Manuscripts Collection.

Information About the Case Books and Contents

Historical Information and Context

In 2014, The Judge Willis Casebooks website was developed with support from the Wilson Trust & His Honour Paul R Mullaly QC.  The website was created by Jason Odering. In 2018, the RHSV website was rebuilt and the Judge Willis Casebooks have been reconstructed with respect to the original layout and design. Judge Willis Casebooks: Terms of Use