Abstract
My thesis traces the progress and selection of a man of middling class, a direct descendant
of Oliver Cromwell, to appointment as judge in the superior court of civil law in the colony
of New South Wales in 1816. On arrival in the colony Judge Field chose not to accept the
company of Governor Macquarie when he learnt this entailed associating with ex‐convicts.
Instead, Field joined the exclusive society of free settlers dominated by John Macarthur
who pursued political beliefs of repression of emancipated convicts. Thereafter, an
emancipist attorney commenced a political campaign against exclusives with Field as their
spokesman. This campaign began and ended in the courts as the only venue available for
political conflict. The campaign revealed the importance of the role of the courts in
colonial society. Not only the free but recently freed and prisoners made use of the courts.
As political conflict intensified it was observed by the Royal Commissioner sent out to
investigate whether the colony was fulfilling its objective for convicts of being a place of
terror. The Commissioner recommended Field's recall. This was acted upon despite Field's
achievements in the reform and development of the civil law during his period in the
colony. On his return to London he was unable to secure further judicial appointment for
some years during which he returned to the Bar. Eventually after he secured a patron
again he obtained a posting to Gibraltar. There his tenure on the bench was marred by
further disputation with the governor. As it happened in New South Wales he is sued by a
litigant in Gibraltar. However the proceedings against him in the Privy Council were
dismissed. His retirement followed and he pursued his many interests of botany, natural
science and Elizabethan literature. For a time he was a noted Shakespearean
commentator. His death took place shortly after his retirement.