He married Mary Dorothy Duncan four days before leaving for Rabaul with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force in August 1914.
In 1928 he and some football-playing friends, in post-match liquor-fuelled high spirits, were reputed to have jumped across the then-unfinished spans of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, 134 metres above the water.
Dovey represented many criminals in high-profile court cases of the day, including the gangland figure, John Frederick "Chow" Hayes and the notorious Sydney identity, Kate Leigh.
Because of his personality in this regard, he gained the nickname "Hanging Judge Dovey", which was a reflection upon his numerous harsh sentences and abrasive manner with those in the court room.
For his conduct in the Royal Commission on the activities of the NSW Police, he was censured by the New South Wales Bar Association for lacking tolerance and judicial calm and exhibiting "a great disservice to the bench and the legal profession";[7][8] he was also criticised by the Incorporated Law Institute for "departing from accepted standards of courtesy, fairness and patience".
[7] John Douglas Pringle, editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, condemned "the mean and shabby courtroom ... where the judge failed to preserve that august and aloof detachment which is his function and participated in the inquiry as though he was counsel engaged for an interested party".
[11] When on the country court circuit, he was also rumoured to schedule early morning hearings so that he could attend race meetings in the afternoon.