Samuel Way

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Portrait of Way in 1914.

Sir Samuel James Way, 1st Baronet (11 April 1836 – 8 January 1916), (1899), English-Australian jurist, was a Chief Judge from 18 March 1876 until 8 January 1916 of the Supreme Court of South Australia, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian State of South Australia.

Way was born in Portsmouth, England, in 1836. Reverend James Way, his father, was a clergyman in the Bible Christian Church, who emigrated to Adelaide, South Australia in 1850 along with his wife and four younger children to establish a mission. Samuel, the eldest child, remained behind, studying at Shebbear College in Shebbear, a small village in North Devon, and later at a school in Chatham in Kent. The family left England at the end of 1852, to join the Reverend Way in Adelaide in March 1853. On arriving in Australia, Way was soon employed in a solicitor's office, and in 1856 became an articled clerk to a Mr Atkinson, another Adelaide solicitor.

On 25 March 1861, Way was admitted to the South Australian Bar to practice law, and when Atkinson died shortly afterwards, Way inherited his practice. Way practised as a barrister and quickly became a leader among the legal community, and in 1868 joined a partnership with another barrister, a Mr Brook. In September 1871, Way was made a Queen's Counsel, despite having been admitted to the bar only ten years earlier. When Brook died in 1872, a young Josiah Symon joined Way as partner. Way continued to be highly successful, travelling to London to argue a number of cases before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. In 1874, Way was elected as a member of the council of the University of Adelaide, and was also appointed to the South Australian Board of Education.

In 1875, Way was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly as the member for Sturt, and on 3 June of that year joined the Boucaut government as Attorney-General of South Australia. He was only a politician for a short time, however, since in March 1876, at the age of just thirty-nine, he was appointed Chief Justice of South Australia following the death of Richard Hanson on 4 March. Since it is the role of the Attorney-General to recommend judicial candidates to the cabinet, it has been suggested that Way probably nominated himself to be Chief Justice.^[1] Way soon gained a reputation as an excellent lawyer, and it has been said that none of his decisions were ever successfully appealed to a higher court.^[2] Later in 1876 he was appointed as the vice-chancellor of the University of Adelaide, and in 1883 became the chancellor, a position he would hold until his death.

In 1877, Way was called upon to act as acting Governor of South Australia. In January 1891 he was appointed to the position of Lieutenant-Governor of South Australia, a position subordinate to the state Governor. In January 1897, Way became the first Australian to be appointed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

In 1898, he married Katherine Blue.

In 1899 he was awarded a baronetcy as 1st Baronet of Montefiore, South Australia. The baronetcy is now extinct.

Way became ill in 1914, and was diagnosed with cancer. He travelled to Sydney in order to have his arm amputated, in an attempt to delay the cancer, but it failed to prevent his health from deteriorating, although he continued to work as Chief Justice until December 1915. He died early the following year in North Adelaide.