[1] He was born in the Thirteen Colonies, possibly in Boston, and came to Newfoundland with his father at the start of the American Revolution.
[1] In 1838, he granted a writ of habeas corpus to the solicitor for Edward Kielley, who was being held for an alleged breach of the House of Assembly's parliamentary privilege.
Lilly declared the warrant, that had been issued by William Carson, void and set Kielley free.
In December 1838, he held a dissenting opinion when the Newfoundland Supreme Court ruled in favour of the assembly in the case Kielley v. Carson.
This decision was overturned by the judicial committee of the British Privy Council in January 1843, whose arguments were consistent with those put forward earlier by Lilly.