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Isaac Isaacs
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{{Short description|Australian politician, lawyer, and judge (1855–1948)}} {{about|the governor-general|the mayor of Adelaide|Isaac Isaacs (mayor)}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] | name = Sir Isaac Isaacs | honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100|GCB|GCMG|KC}} | image = Isaac Isaacs 1936 (cropped).jpg | order = 9th | office = Governor-General of Australia | term_start = 22 January 1931 | term_end = 23 January 1936 | monarch = [[George V]]<br/>[[Edward VIII]] | primeminister = [[James Scullin]]<br/>[[Joseph Lyons]] | predecessor = [[John Baird, 1st Viscount Stonehaven|The Lord Stonehaven]] | successor = [[Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie|The Lord Gowrie]] | order2 = | office2 = [[Chief Justice of Australia]] | term_start2 = 2 April 1930 | term_end2 = 20 January 1931 | predecessor2 = [[Sir Adrian Knox]] | successor2 = [[Sir Frank Duffy]] | nominator2 = [[James Scullin]] | appointer2 = The Lord Stonehaven | order3 = | office3 = [[List of Justices of the High Court of Australia|Justice of the High Court of Australia]] | term_start3 = 12 October 1906 | term_end3 = 2 April 1930 | predecessor3 = ''None'' | successor3 = [[Edward McTiernan|Sir Edward McTiernan]] | appointer3 = [[Henry Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote|Lord Northcote]] | nominator3 = [[Alfred Deakin]] | order4 = [[Attorney-General of Australia]] | primeminister4 = [[Alfred Deakin]] | term_start4 = 6 July 1905 | term_end4 = 10 October 1906 | predecessor4 = [[Josiah Symon]] | successor4 = [[Littleton Groom]] | constituency_MP5 = [[Division of Indi|Indi]] | parliament5 = Australian | term_start5 = 29 March 1901 | term_end5 = 12 October 1906 | predecessor5 = ''None''<br/>[[Federation of Australia|Australian Federation]] | successor5 = [[Joseph Tilley Brown|Joseph Brown]] | birth_name = Isaac Alfred Isaacs | birth_date = {{birth date|1855|8|6|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Melbourne]], [[Victoria (Australia)|Colony of Victoria]], Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|1948|2|11|1855|8|6|df=y}} | death_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | spouse = {{marriage|Daisy Jacobs|1888}} | children = 2 | profession = Barrister, politician and judge | caption = Isaacs in 1936 }} '''Sir Isaac Alfred Isaacs''', {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100|sep=,|GCB|GCMG|PC|KC}} (6 August 1855 β 11 February 1948) was an Australian lawyer, politician, and judge who served as the [[List of Governors-General of Australia|ninth Governor-General of Australia]], in office from 1931 to 1936. He had previously served on the [[High Court of Australia]] from 1906 to 1931, including as [[Chief Justice of Australia|Chief Justice]] from 1930. Isaacs was born in [[Melbourne]] and grew up in [[Yackandandah]] and [[Beechworth]] (in country [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]]). He began working as a schoolteacher at the age of 15, and later moved to Melbourne to work as a clerk and studied law part-time at the [[University of Melbourne]]. Isaacs was admitted to [[Bar (law)|the bar]] in 1880, and soon became one of Melbourne's best-known barristers. He was elected to the [[Victorian Legislative Assembly]] in 1892, and subsequently served as [[Solicitor-General of Victoria|Solicitor-General]] under [[James Patterson (Australian politician)|James Patterson]], and [[Attorney-General of Victoria|Attorney-General]] under [[George Turner (Australian politician)|George Turner]] and [[Alexander Peacock]]. Isaacs entered the new [[Parliament of Australia|federal parliament]] at the [[1901 Australian federal election|1901 election]], representing the [[Protectionist Party]]. He became [[Attorney-General of Australia]] in 1905, under [[Alfred Deakin]], but the following year left politics in order to become a justice of the [[High Court of Australia|High Court]]. Isaacs was often in the minority in his early years on the court, particularly with regard to [[Federalism in Australia|federalism]], where he advocated the supremacy of the [[Government of Australia|Commonwealth Government]]. The balance of the court eventually shifted, and he famously authored the majority opinion in the ''[[Amalgamated Society of Engineers v Adelaide Steamship Co Ltd|Engineers case]]'' of 1920, which abolished the [[reserved powers doctrine]] and fully established [[Intergovernmental immunity (Australia)|the paramountcy of Commonwealth law]]. In 1930, Prime Minister [[James Scullin]] appointed Isaacs as Chief Justice, in succession to Sir [[Adrian Knox]]. Later that year, Scullin nominated Isaacs as his preferred choice for governor-general. The selection of an Australian (rather than the usual British aristocrat) was unprecedented and highly controversial. King [[George V]] was opposed to the idea but eventually consented, and Isaacs took office in January 1931 as the first Australian-born holder of the office. He was the first governor-general to live full-time at [[Government House, Canberra|Yarralumla]], and throughout his five-year term was popular among the public for his frugality during the [[Great Depression|Depression]]. Isaacs was Australia's first Jewish High Court Justice, the first Jewish Chief Justice of Australia and also the first Jewish Governor-General of Australia. He was a strong [[Anti-Zionism|Anti-Zionist]].
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