James Dowling edited the second edition of W Paley's Law and Practice of Summary Convictions, and was responsible for several volumes of Reports of Cases.
12 Facts About James Dowling
1.
2.
James Dowling acted with consideration and tact over a question of precedence which immediately arose.
3.
James Dowling said that the matter should be referred to the home authorities, and that in the meantime Stephen should take precedence.
4.
The question was settled in favour of Stephen's view, and James Dowling accepted the position of junior judge.
5.
In September 1835, James Dowling was appointed acting Chief Justice during the absence of Forbes, who was on leave.
6.
James Dowling was an appointed member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 19 April 1836 until 5 January 1843.
7.
James Dowling sat in the Full Bench which determined questions of law following the conviction of seven colonists of the murder of two children and an adult referred to as Charley.
8.
In June 1843, James Dowling expressed his willingness to act as speaker of the new Legislative Council, but Gipps ruled against this as he considered it would not be in the public interest.
9.
James Dowling was married twice and was survived by his second wife, Lady Harriott Dowling, and two sons and two daughters from his first marriage.
10.
At the time of his death, James Dowling was preparing a volume of law reports of the decisions of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
11.
James Dowling was regarded as a hard working judge, and rarely took holidays.
12.
One of his sons, James Sheen Dowling, was born in England and came to Australia with his father in 1828, practised as a barrister and was a District Court judge from 1858 to 1889 and an acting judge of the Supreme Court from 1878 to 1881.