his wife and child. Several applications has
been made for the express purpose of
obtaining the said parcel from the Master of
the Alexander now lying at this port, and that
without effect (save and except) a small part
of the said parcel containing a few books, the
residue and remainder, which is of a more
considerable value still remains on board the
said ship Alexander, the Master of which,
seems to be very neglectfull in not causing
the same to be delivered, to its respective
owners as aforesaid.
Henry and Susannah, since they were both illiterate,
could not sign the writ and just put their “crosses” at the
bottom. The words “new settlers of this place” were later
crossed out, but were highly significant. Someone
anticipated that if Henry Cable and his wife were described
as convicts, the case would have no hope of proceeding.
Someone had come up instead with the idea of calling
them new settlers. This was probably a bit too much for
Judge Collins to take, and most likely he was the one who
had these words struck out. But the writ worked. Collins did
not throw out the case, and convened the court, with a jury
entirely made up of soldiers. Sinclair was called before the
court. Though Collins was less than enthusiastic about the
case, and the jury was composed of the people sent to
Australia to guard convicts such as the Cables, the Cables
won. Sinclair contested the whole affair on the grounds that
the Cables were criminals. But the verdict stood, and he
had to pay fifteen pounds.
To reach this verdict Judge Collins didn’t apply British
law; he ignored it. This was the first civil case adjudicated
in Australia. The first criminal case would have appeared
equally bizarre to those in Britain. A convict was found guilty
of stealing another convict’s bread, which was worth two
pence. At the time, such a case would not have come to
court, since convicts were not allowed to own anything.
Australia was not Britain, and its law would not be just
British. And Australia would soon diverge from Britain in
criminal and civil law as well as in a host of economic and
political institutions.