Banco Court, Level 3, Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law
415 George Street Brisbane
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Colin Blackburn, Baron Blackburn of Killearn (‘Statesmen. No. 381’) by Sir Leslie Ward
Chromolithograph, published in Vanity Fair 19 November 1881
359 mm x 242 mm paper size
National Portrait Gallery (NPG D44040)

Lord Blackburn (1813–1896) was one of the leading figures in the classical era of the law of contract.
(1876–1886). During this ten year period, the
House of Lords reshaped the law extensively.
Leading cases from this era include Mackay
v Dick (1881), Maddison v Alderson (1883)
He was educated at Trinity
College, Cambridge (1835). He then practised at the Bar for 21 years — mostly in commercial and Foakes v Beer (1884).
With a Scots accent, an ungenial manner and a matters (1838-1859). During this period, he wrote a respected text (A Treatise on the Effect of
the Contract of Sale) and jointly tendency to interrupt counsel
“with deftly delivered posers”, the formidable Lord Blackburn died a bachelor in 1896.
edited a series of law reports
(Ellis & Blackburn).
Dr Dominic
O’Sullivan QC on Lord Blackburn
In 1859, Blackburn was appointed a Judge of the Court of Queen’s
Bench (1859–1876). During this period, he decided a series of leading cases in the law of contract, including Tweddle v Atkinson
(1861) and Taylor v Caldwell (1863). As a consequence of his being personally sued by a self-represented litigant for deciding a case adversely to her, Blackburn also contributed to the law concerning judicial immunity —
Fray v Blackburn (1863). Later he delivered the judgment of the Exchequer Chamber in
Fletcher v Rylands (1866), prior to it going up to the House of Lords.
Dominic O’Sullivan graduated Bachelor of Arts
(First Class Honours, English
Literature) (1993) and Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) (1994) from
The University of Queensland. Following admission as a solicitor with the Brisbane firm Feez Ruthning (now Allens), he undertook postgraduate study at Exeter
College, Oxford, as a Commonwealth
Scholar (D. Phil, 2001). He practised as a member of the Essex Court Chambers in London from 2001 to 2006, where he remains an associate member, and since
2006 at the Queensland Bar. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2014.
In 1876, Lord Blackburn was appointed one of the first two Lords of Appeal in Ordinary
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