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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-10-18 Daily Xml
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JACOBS, MR S.J.

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:38): I move:

That the House of Assembly expresses its deep regret of the death of the Hon. Samuel Joshua Jacobs AO QC, former Supreme Court judge, royal commissioner and very strong supporter of education in South Australia, and that we place on record our appreciation of his meritorious service to our state's legal and justice system and to education and, as a mark of respect to his memory, that the sitting of the house be suspended until the ringing of the bells.

It was with great sadness that I learned last week of the passing of Sam Jacobs, who died after a lengthy illness on 11 October, aged 90. Sam Jacobs made a very significant contribution to South Australia as a lawyer, as a judge, as a royal commissioner, and as a voluntary worker in support of education, particularly the University of Adelaide. Praised for his combination of legal learning, intellectual acumen and practical wisdom coupled with a keen sense of humour, Sam Jacobs gave long and diligent service to some of our most important institutions, including 17 years as a justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia and 32 years as a member of the University of Adelaide Council.

Samuel Joshua Jacobs was born in 1920 and educated at Scotch College here in Adelaide. He began his law studies in 1939, but like so many of his generation his tertiary education was interrupted by the Second World War. He enlisted in the 2nd/27th Battalion in 1940 and served with distinction in various theatres of war for the following four years. His family, and perhaps others, heard him recount that the most significant and fortuitous element of his war service was that, at the insistence of prime minister John Curtin, he was not required to serve in Burma.

After his discharge from the Army in 1944, he resumed his studies in law and was admitted as a practitioner of the Supreme Court in 1946. It was not until the following year that he gained his Bachelor of Laws, an unusual chronology brought about by the disruption of the war.

Sam Jacobs' outstanding legal skills were quickly recognised. He served as a judge's associate with Sir George Ligertwood, who was to become his long-standing mentor, as well as then Chief Justice Sir Mellis Napier, before joining the legal firm which became known as Browne, Rymill, Stevens and Jacobs. He practised with distinction in a range of legal areas and, as former Chief Justice the late Len King noted on Sam Jacobs' retirement, his name was associated with some of the most important and difficult cases of his time.

From the early stages of his career he began voluntary work in support of education at all levels, although the University of Adelaide was the most significant beneficiary of his time, energy and wisdom. This voluntary involvement with education began with like-minded members of his local community, as they pushed for, and subsequently developed, a local kindergarten.

He served on the university council for an astonishing 32 years and was deputy chancellor of the university from 1984 until 1993. For some period of that time I was minister for further education, during the making of the University of South Australia and other additions to the University of Adelaide, and I knew how well regarded he was by the university.

He played an enormous role in the story and development of the University of Adelaide. His professional service was also extensive. He was president of the Law Society from 1971 until his appointment to the Supreme Court in 1973 by the Dunstan government.

Sam Jacobs served our judicial system with distinction, retiring in 1990 having reached the compulsory retirement age. On his retirement, Len King praised his contribution, saying:

From the beginning, His Honour proved to be an outstanding judge. His tolerance and perceptiveness quickly won the support and respect of the profession. He has brought us strength and stability to the work of the court in all its jurisdictions.

Sam Jacobs was only briefly retired before he was called on to take the demanding role of Royal Commissioner into the State Bank of South Australia. This was a particularly wrenching time in the history of this state. He produced two reports, in 1992 and 1993.

Sam Jacobs' contribution to our state and to our nation has been recognised widely, with two honorary doctorates and an Order of Australia for services to law and education. He is the fourth highly respected legal figure that South Australia has lost this year, following the passing of Len King, Ted Mullighan and Elliott Johnston. No doubt there are many and varied connections between these men, all giants in their own individual ways and all men of great integrity.

In fact, I am reminded that Sam Jacobs, like so many prominent South Australians, was also formerly an editor of On Dit, the University of Adelaide's student newspaper. However, he resigned his editorship in protest when he was refused permission to print articles on pacifism that had been submitted by Elliott Johnston.

In his retirement speech, Sam Jacobs showed that the commitment to free speech and fair play that he nurtured as a student had bloomed into a strong and wide-ranging commitment to integrity and compassion in the judicial system. He also showed a degree of prescience, predicting that the era of the computer would transform our working lives. He said in that speech:

The microchip can do many marvellous things. It can even play bridge and chess better than I can, which is no mean achievement. But I confess to some concern if we allow it to think for us and to solve the problems that we ought to solve for ourselves, ... for the microchip lacks the compassion of the human spirit.

Sam Jacobs will be remembered as a fair and impartial judge, a loyal and loved family man—and I know that he lost his wife of many years, Mary, in 2007—a devoted father and a South Australian dedicated to serving his community. On behalf of all members of this side of the house, and on behalf of the people of South Australia, I extend my deep condolences to Sam Jacobs' immediate family—his sisters, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren—to his wider family and his friends, colleagues and admirers.

Mrs REDMOND (Heysen—Leader of the Opposition) (14:46): I rise to second the motion. Justice Samuel Jacobs AO QC wore many hats: he was a man of the law, a strong advocate for education, a volunteer and a great donor of his personal time to worthy causes, as well as being a veteran, a freemason and, of course, a family man.

It seems that in recent months we have been farewelling many great men of Justice Jacobs' era and his legacy, too, is certainly one worth noting. Justice Jacobs died last week aged 90 after a decorated career and decades of service to this state. Born in Adelaide in 1920, Sam Jacobs finished high school at Scotch College in 1938 as head prefect and captain of the first XI. The very next year he started studying law at Adelaide University and, during his time there as the Premier has mentioned, he was editor of the university student publication On Dit and a member of the intervarsity golf and debating teams.

That, of course, was 1939 and war was looming. He passed the first year of his studies and began the second before heading to war in the middle of 1940 with some second year subjects yet to be completed. He enlisted in the AIF in World War II serving in the Middle East and achieved the rank of captain in the 2nd Australian Imperial Force Movement Control.

After the war, Sam resumed his studies and completed what was then known as his certificate so that he could go straight into practice as he had married his wife, Mary, in 1946 and was keen to join the workforce and start earning some money. In 1947, he finished his degree. Because of the fused professions of barrister and solicitor in this state, Sam was able to take silk in 1965 while still working for his long-time legal firm—a practice no longer allowed. He served as president of the Law Society from 1971 to 1973 before standing down from that role when he was appointed a Supreme Court justice.

In spite of there having been some years of overlap when I was a practitioner and he a Supreme Court judge, I only had one appearance before Justice Jacobs (as instructing solicitor to a barrister who himself is now a judge) and that appearance was singularly unsuccessful, with Sam Jacobs not letting us get to first base in the argument before shutting us down and sitting us down. That said, however, it was clear he had a sharp intellect and a fine legal mind. As the Chief Justice said:

Through his work as a judge of the Supreme Court, Mr Jacobs made a substantial contribution to the administration of justice in South Australia. His judicial work was highly regarded by his fellow judges and by the legal profession. In his time as a legal practitioner he was an undoubted leader of the legal profession.

Justice Jacobs served with distinction in the role of Supreme Court judge until 1990 when he reached the statutory retirement age of 70 and was forced to stand down.

Most of us would imagine that by the time we were 70 we would be ready for retirement, but not Sam. In 1991 he was asked to head the royal commission into the State Bank disaster. As commissioner, he investigated how the Bannon Labor government had managed to let the state debt peak at $11.6 billion in 1993 at the height of the crisis. South Australia was led into a staggering $3.15 billion debt. He produced two reports of his findings in 1992 and 1993.

Unfortunately, the economic policies of the South Australian Labor governments still concerned Sam Jacobs nearly two decades later. In 2009, he publicly chastised Labor for their reckless economic policies. He was worried that the current state Labor government was putting its credit rating at risk by funding major infrastructure projects through debt. He was particularly concerned that the state Labor government was preparing to borrow to fund a $1.7 billion hospital—the new RAH. In March 2009—and that shows how active his mind still was so recently—in The Australian, he was quoted as saying:

To incur that expense puts a strain on the state budget and there are global strains as well. It's important that states keep the AAA ratings, because it gets a more favourable rate of borrowing. I wouldn't want to sacrifice it.

But it was certainly not all work and no play for Sam. As well as raising their four children with his much-loved wife, Mary, from the early 1950s, Sam had various involvement in voluntary education roles, including 32 years as a member of the Council of the University of Adelaide. Indeed, he was deputy chancellor of the university from 1984 until 1993.

He was a member of the Council of Governors of Scotch College from 1966, a member of the State Law Reform Committee, a member of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, a member of the Board of Management of the Kindergarten Union and was associated with the work of the Crippled Children's Association. Interestingly, from 1966 to 1973, he was also a director of the SA Gas Company.

An active freemason, Sam was a past grandmaster in South Australia and the Northern Territory and he was honoured by the naming of the newly-renovated basement area of the Freemasons Hall in North Terrace as the Sam Jacobs Room, which he formally opened in September last year.

On top of all his voluntary work, Samuel saw the law as a form of public service and always acted with the best interests of the community in mind. It is obvious from all this that the Order of Australia he was awarded in 1982 for services to law and education was certainly well-deserved. He was also awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001.

On behalf of the Liberal Party, I would like to extend my sincere condolences to Sam's family, particularly his four children—Michael, who is known to many of us in here, Tim, Pete and Jen—five grandchildren and three great-grandsons and, of course, his many friends and colleagues. I commend the motion to the house.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Urban Development, Planning and the City of Adelaide, Minister for Tourism, Minister for Food Marketing) (14:52): I think, having heard the contributions of the last two speakers, I will confine myself to remarks about the late Sam Jacobs. The role of being a Supreme Court judge is one that, I guess, has been more in the spotlight recently, and probably for all the wrong reasons, in that, as the Premier has already remarked, we have lost, in the space of a very short time, four distinguished former members of that court—Justice Jacobs being the fourth.

I do not know if this indicates some sort of risk profile attached to being a member of the Supreme Court, but I am somewhat consoled by the fact that Sam Jacobs was, after all, 90 when he left us. To leave any time is not good, but at 90 is a lot better than earlier and, I guess, maybe that says good things about the longevity of people who serve in that distinguished role.

He was, as others have remarked, a member of the court from 1973 until his retirement in 1990, when he turned 70 years of age. Unlike the Leader of the Opposition, I did not have the privilege of appearing before His Honour when he was serving on the court, but I am very much aware of the fact that his tenure on the court straddled two great periods in the South Australian Supreme Court's history, being the Bray court and the King court, both of which were outstanding and nationally recognised courts for the quality of the judgements that those courts delivered.

As has already been remarked, Sam Jacobs began practising law in 1946 and took silk in 1965. Of course, during those days, it was possible for a person to take silk without being at the independent bar because it did not actually exist, as it presently does, at that time. He also, obviously, served with the Law Society and the university.

I have had the opportunity of looking at the remarks made by the newly-installed Justice Jacobs on 22 May 1973, at the time of his appointment. In these remarks, he refers to the Hon. Sir George Ligertwood, whom he describes as a mentor. Having read these, I think it is probably some good advice for any lawyer and probably even for members of parliament. He quotes Mr Ligertwood, saying that he had given him two pieces of advice. The first one is:

'If your legal research leads you to a result which offends your common sense, go and have another look at the law.'

I do not think that is a bad start. He then goes on to say:

I am sure he was right, although I have come to learn that common sense alone is not a substitute for legal argument.

All of us who have practised know that is the case. Sam went on to say:

But the next piece of advice is perhaps more pertinent…Never be scared of the Judge.

Having had the experience, as I know the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Bragg have, sometimes that is hard. He said:

Never be scared of the Judge. If you have prepared your case properly you will know more about the law than he does.

Many of us have thought that but been shown to be wrong when the writing has been written. He then goes on to say:

If, with great respect to my brethren, I have sometimes felt certain that that was true in the past, I am equally certain that so far as I am concerned it will be true in the future.

That is a very generous remark by an incoming judge. As I said, not having appeared before him, I do not know if he continued to hold that opinion throughout the entire period of his tenure.

I understand from various sources that Sam Jacobs was an active freemason and indeed a past grand master of freemasons in South Australia and the Northern Territory. I am, I think, obliged to advise the parliament—because his son Michael was concerned that this matter might cause confusion—that the Adelaide Crows' ruckman, Sam Jacobs, is not related. In any event, my condolences to his family. He is survived by his two sisters, three sons, one daughter, five grandchildren and three great-grandsons. I am sure this has been a great loss to all of them. He was a great contributor to South Australia.

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg) (14:56): I hope today that the family of the Hon. Sam Jacobs will take some comfort in hearing the presentations moved by the Premier and supported by the Attorney and our leader to appreciate for the rest of South Australia the enormous contribution that their father and brother made to the state, the legal profession, the Law Society, and of course the judiciary, and, very significantly, his extraordinarily long service to the University of Adelaide and education generally.

Sam Jacobs was the third lawyer I ever met. As a teenager, I had met a lawyer from Adelaide who purported to be a very senior member of the legal world, but as he did not know the difference between a wether and a ewe I thought he was a complete idiot. The second one was the Hon. Robin Millhouse, who served in this parliament and also on the bench. I had the experience of being cross-examined by him for about two hours in the Supreme Court as a witness, and that is an experience I would probably prefer to forget.

The third person was Sam Jacobs, who by that stage, as has been explained today, had become a member of the Supreme Court bench; he had taken that position a few years before. As a young law student, I, like probably many South Australians, was stunned to read the headline in the News, which was a post 4 o'clock newspaper publication (for those who are too young to remember), when we had two daily papers in South Australia. The headline was '$60,000 compensation to woman plaintiff', etc. At the time it was probably the biggest civil compensation damages claim that had been awarded to a victim of a motor vehicle accident, but in any event it was certainly notorious and the determination had been made by the then His Honour Sam Jacobs.

Shortly after that, I was invited down to the Carrickalinga house of His Honour and his dear wife, Mary Jacobs, because, as it happened, my mother's first cousin was his long-serving secretary, who had worked with him during his legal career, I think from the time it was something like Stephens Mellor Jacobs and Bollen or some configuration, until his time on the bench.

I have to say, on occasions that I visited her at the chambers, I would not describe her as, frankly, the most hardworking secretary, notwithstanding that she was my cousin, but she was certainly very loyal to His Honour and was completely available at all times to provide services to His Honour, and she became a very good friend of both him and Mary.

I was invited to the Carrickalinga beach house as a young student. As usual, being presumptive on these occasions when you are young and, of course, outspoken (which, of course, I'm not now), I raised with His Honour this case. I said, 'This is an outrageous decision, judge. How could this possibly happen? This is extraordinary.' To which he responded something like, 'That is the advantage of hearing all of the evidence and not just relying on what's in the newspaper.' So, it was a sobering lesson, and I thank him for it.

Fortunately, I went on to graduate, and had his advice from time to time since that time. I just wish to place on the record my personal appreciation for his mentoring and support, because I represent so many who have had the benefit of his counsel and am one of all South Australians who should rejoice in his life of contribution to all of us, and I convey my condolences to his family.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

The SPEAKER (15:01): I thank members for their contributions, which I will pass on to the family. I now ask all members to rise in support of the motion in the usual way.

Motion carried by members standing in their places in silence.


[Sitting suspended from 15:02 to 15:12]


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