Sir James William Blair KCMG (16 May 1870 – 18 November 1944) was an Australian politician, lawyer and judge.

His biographer states that Blair was thought of as a "dandy"[1] because he wore a white gardenia in his coat buttonhole and a silk handkerchief protruding from his breast pocket.

Blair lived at Swanwick's in Norman Park at the time and was called to the Queensland Bar on 6 March 1894.

[2] Blair shared chambers with the Queensland Attorney General of the time, Thomas Joseph Byrnes.

Both had been convicted of murdering a property owner and a police constable after the homestead they were staying in was burnt to the ground.

The appeal did not succeed and Patrick Kenniff was executed soon after and his brother went on to serve a gaol term.

In the Queensland Legislative Assembly, he opposed Sunday trading for pubs and hotels, restricted hours for bars, prohibition of the sale of tobacco to children and the stringent enforcement against gambling.

In 1905, Blair introduced the Worker's Compensation Act 1905 (Qld), a major change to workplace safety laws in Queensland.

Previous efforts at reform in this area had stalled and this legislation changed the focus from the regulation of safety to instead requiring employers to compensate employees for workplace accidents.

He also jointed revised the "Queensland Police Code and Justices' Manual of the Criminal Law" written by Robert Archibald Ranking.

[8] He lost those offices in 1907 when Sir Robert Philp became Premier, but was eventually re-appointed after Kidston regained the premiership in 1908.

He married Christina Gibson on 29 February 1912 at St Andrew's Church of England, South Brisbane.

In 1915 Blair lost his seat in parliament at the general election, and he returned to private practice as a barrister.

[9][10] In 1931 Blair heard a civil claim for damages against two former premiers of Queensland, William McCormack and Edward Granville Theodore in relation to the "Mungana affair".

The trial lasted twenty-days before a jury and had to be held in the Brisbane City Hall because of the number of defendants.

In 1939, Blair and a jury held a trial in respect of a large of number of accused who had been part of the League for Social Justice.

The accused had invaded the Legislative Council chambers armed with baton, barbed wire and hammers.

Douglas further alleged that Blair had received a salary as lieutenant-governor and had been given large undisclosed sums of money by the government to suppress pensions for judges.

The allegations caused the other judges of the Court to condemn Douglas and lend their support to Blair.