William Webb
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The Honourable Sir William Flood Webb KBE (21 January 1887 – 11 August 1972) was a judge on the Supreme Court of Queensland and on the High Court of Australia.
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[edit] Personal
William Flood Webb was born in Brisbane on 21 January 1887. He was educated at St Mary's School in Warwick, Queensland. He studied at the University of Queensland, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws. On 4 June 1913, Webb was admitted to the Queensland Bar, after scoring a very high 71.5% on the bar examination on 20 May. On 17 March 1917, he married Beatrice Agnew at the Sacred Heart Church in Sandgate. He died in Brisbane on 11 August 1972.
[edit] Solicitor
In 1915, Webb was the State Public Defender for Queensland, and from 1917 to 1922 he was the Crown Solicitor. He was promoted to the Solicitor-General of Queensland in 1922, a position he held until 1925.
[edit] Arbitration Court
Webb was also a Judge of the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration from 1922 to 1927, and from 1925 to 1945 was President of the Queensland Court of Arbitration.
[edit] Supreme Court
Webb was appointed as a puisne judge on 24 April 1925 to the Supreme Court of Queensland. He held this position until he became a senior puisne judge on 17 May 1940 on the same court. On 27 June 1940 he was promoted to the Chief Judge as the Supreme Court. He kept this position until 15 May 1946 when he left to take a position on the High Court of Australia.
In 1943, during his tenure on the court, Webb was appointed by the Government of Australia to investigate allegations of Japanese war crimes during World War II. Between 1943 and 1945, he produced three reports, known as the Webb reports, into crimes against Australian prisoners of war. He also visited London in 1944 to give advice on his reports to the United Nations War Crimes Commission.
[edit] High Court
Webb was began his tenure on the High Court of Australia in May of 1946. During his tenure, he was President of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, the tribunal which tried Japanese war crimes from World War II, from 1946 to 1948. Webb was involved in a minor scandal late in 1947, in the leadup to the bank nationalisation case, the Government of Australia tried to recall Webb from Tokyo, by requesting General Douglas MacArthur to release him, because they believed that he would decide the case in a way that was favourable to the Commonwealth. However, after pressure from Justice Owen Dixon, Chief Justice John Latham contacted Webb and encouraged him not to leave Japan. On 12 November 1948, after more than two years of trials, Webb, as President of the Tribunal, handed down the sentences on all of the people whom the Tribunal had found guilty. Webb said that the series of trials conducted in Tokyo were the most "important criminal trials in all history." Webb retired from the High Court on 16 May 1958 after serving exactly twelve years on the bench.
[edit] Honours
In 1954, Webb was made a Knight of the British Empire. In 1967, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws by the University of Queensland.
The road William Webb Drive in the district of Belconnen, Canberra is named after him.
[edit] References
- ↑ Fact Sheet 61 - World War II war crimes. National Archives of Australia. Retrieved on 1 December 2005.
- ↑ John Latham in Owen Dixon's Eyes. The Samuel Griffith Society. Retrieved on 1 December 2005.
- ↑ Guide to the papers of Sir William Webb. Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on 1 December 2005.
