(1826-1888)
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From
the perspective of our age of specialisation, W E Hearn seems extraordinarily
versatile.
Appointed as the University’s first Professor of Modern History and
Literature, Political Economy and Logic in 1854, following the untimely
death of the foundation Professor of Classics. He also taught Classics
in 1855-56 and 1871. His students included H B Higgins, Alfred Deakin
and Isaac Isaacs.
In 1873, Hearn was appointed the first Dean of Law, lecturing in Constitutional
Law and Jurisprudence. The Cassell Prize Essay on the Condition of Ireland
was published in 1851, before his arrival in Australia. In Melbourne
he published four more books, which enjoyed local success as well as
bringing Australian scholarship to world attention. He was also a prolific
journalist, publishing in The Argus and Australasian.
His books covered subjects as diverse as political economy, the growth
of constitutional law and conventions, early social institutions such
as the family and household and, in The Theory of Legal Duties and Rights,
the theoretical reasoning behind his attempts to codify the laws of
Victoria. This code, which occupied his latter years, although praised
in Parliament, was regarded as too abstract by practising lawyers and
never adopted. Hearn was an active Anglican who took great interest
in the affairs of Trinity College and the Diocese of Melbourne. However,
despite being admitted to the Victorian Bar and appointed as Q C in
1886, he rarely practised.
Hearn’s first efforts to be elected to the Legislative Assembly were
unsuccessful, with the Chancellor, Redmond Barry, persuading the University
Council to prohibit professors from standing for Parliament. In 1878,
having argued that, as a Dean, he was not subject to this prohibition,
Hearn was elected to the Legislative Council, representing the Central
Province. He was castigated by The Age as a conservative, but respected
in practice for his skill in drafting legislation.
