By the 1880s he was briefed to appear in almost every important jury case, and was retained as standing counsel by a large number of public and private institutions, including the Victorian railways.

His success depended less on abstract legalities than on a ready grasp of technical skills and an ability to easily make disputed points clear to a jury.

His significant contribution to forensic law in Victoria was the development of a new style of cross-examination, a persistent and focussed questioning by which a defensive witness could be led to trip up and prejudice his own case.

He also became co-editor of the Australian Jurist Purves was elected for the electorate of Mornington in the Victorian Legislative Assembly on 1 April 1872 as a free trader and constitutionalist.

In his addresses to these meetings Purves developed a vague and ardent vision of Australia's future greatness which he placed sometimes within a renewed British empire, sometime in glorious national independence.

Speaking to a motion advocating Australian federation, he moved rapidly from its virtues to its consequences: 'the time had arrived when they must either assist the mother country, or set out on life's journey by themselves'.

Australia desired nothing more than to be 'one of the brightest jewels in an Imperial Crown', but 'if our wishes continued to be disregarded … England would run a mighty risk of losing us altogether.

Conservatives denounced him – and the nativism of the association – as disloyal to the British Empire; republicans wavered between praising his claims for Australian independence, and condemning him as a covert imperialist.

[2] Across the 1890s Purves was active and effective in the long crusade to persuade Victorians to support Australian federation, but he never took on a leadership role; he had no patience with negotiations and compromises.

Purves was also prominent in Victorian sporting circles as an owner of fine race-horses, a champion shot, and a keen lawn-tennis player and a yachtsman.