Richard Hanson (Australian politician)

:"For the Canadian politician called Richard Hanson, see Richard Hanson".

Sir Richard Davies Hanson (6 December 1805 – 4 March 1876), was the fourth Premier of South Australia, from 30 September 1857 until 8 May 1860, and was a Chief Judge from 20 November 1861 until 4 March 1876 on the Supreme Court of South Australia, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian State of South Australia.

Hanson was born in London, the second son of R. Hanson, a fruit merchant and importer, and was educated at a private school in Cambridgeshire. Admitted a solicitor in 1828, he practised for some time in London, becoming a disciple of Edward Gibbon Wakefield in connexion with his colonization schemes. In 1838 he went with Lord Durham to Canada as assistant-commissioner of inquiry into crown lands and immigration.

In 1840, on the death of Lord Durham, Hanson settled in Wellington, New Zealand. He there acted as crown prosecutor, but in 1846 removed to South Australia.

On his arrival in the colony of South Australia in 1846, Hanson immediately set up a legal practice. He served as Advocate-General and Attorney-General for the colony before election to the seat of Adelaide.

In 1851 he was appointed advocate-general of the colony and took an active share in the passing of many important measures, such as the first Education Act, the District Councils Act of 1852, and the Act of 1856 which granted constitutional government to the colony. In 1856 he was attorney-general in the first ministry under Boyle Finniss; becoming premier himself in 1857. Among the acts passed were the first patents act, an insolvency act, a partial consolidation of the criminal law, and the Torrens real property act, though he was at first opposed to this measure. He also passed an act legalizing marriage with a deceased wife's sister, the first of its kind in the Empire, but the royal assent was refused on this occasion.

After leaving parliament, Hanson replaced Sir Charles Cooper as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia in 1861. He was knighted in 1869 by Queen Victoria when he visited England, and was acting Governor of South Australia for 1872–1873. In his spare time Hanson gave much time to theological studies. His publications include "Law in Nature and Other Papers" (1865), "The Jesus of History" (1869), "Letters to and from Rome" (1869), "The Apostle Paul", and the "Preaching of Christianity in the Primitive Church (1875)". He died in Australia on the 4 March 1876.

References

*1911
*Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Richard|Last=Hanson|Link=http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogHa-He.html#hanson2
*Ausbio

ee also

* Judiciary of Australia

External links

* [http://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/pp/html/hanson.shtm South Australian Parliament - Hanson]