Walter Shaw (judge)

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Sir Walter Shaw

Sir Walter Sidney Shaw (1863 – 25 April 1937) was a British lawyer and judge in the early 20th century. He served as a judge in a number of British colonies, his last judicial appointment being the Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements. He was also the chairman of the Shaw Commission which investigated the 1929 Palestine riots.

Middle name

Walter Shaw's middle name was either "Sidney" or "Sydney". Both names have been reproduced in official documents, including The London Gazette and The Edinburgh Gazette. However, the majority refer to "Sidney", which was likely his actual middle name.

Early life and marriage

Shaw, born in 1863, was the son of George Shaw, a barrister. He was educated at Brighton School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1888, and practiced at common law until 1906.

Shaw married Dorothy Emma Mortimore, daughter of Foster Mortimore, in 1895. They had a son and a daughter.

Legal appointments

In 1906, Shaw was appointed Police Magistrate and Acting Chief Justice of St Vincent. He became Chief Justice in 1907 and was appointed to the Executive and Legislative Councils.

From 1912 to 1914 he was Chief Justice of British Honduras (now Belize) and between 1914 and 1921 served as a Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of Ceylon. He was knighted in the 1921 Birthday Honours.

He was appointed as Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements in 1921 and served in that position until his retirement in 1925.

When Shaw came to Singapore he introduced the custom of wearing a wig in court. Upon his retirement, he explained that it was "not because I have any desire to attire myself in fancy costume, or because I wished to give myself any special personal importance, but because I think that it tends to remind, not only the public and the Bar, but even the judge himself, that he is a representative of that very illustrious body of men – the English judges, who have done so much to establish and maintain the freedom of the English people".

Shaw Commission

The Shaw Commission in 1929. Shaw is seated in the centre.

In 1929, Shaw chaired the Commission on the Palestine Disturbances of August 1929, commonly known as the Shaw Commission, which looked into the causes of the 1929 Palestine riots. The Shaw Commission found that the fundamental cause of the violence "without which in our opinion disturbances either would not occurred or would not have been little more than a local riot, is the Arab feeling of animosity and hostility towards the Jews consequent upon the disappointment of their political and national aspirations and fear for their economic future".

Death

Shaw died at his home, Fenners, in Wimborne, Dorset, UK, on 25 April 1937.

Legacy

Shaw Road in Singapore was either named after Shaw or a Mr. Shaw, a partner in Shaw, Whitehead and Company.