Sir John Lewes Pedder (10 February 1784 – 24 March 1859) was an English Australian judge, politician and grazier, he was the first Chief Justice of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania).
Trial by jury was a contentious issue in the colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land and each were immediately involved.
[4] On 24 May 1824 Gellibrand in his inaugural address to the Supreme Court, spoke of trial by jury as being "one of the greatest boons conferred by the legislature upon this colony".
Pedder, in a long and weighty judgment took a different view to Forbes, holding that the right to trial by civilian jury was taken away by section 19 of the New South Wales Act 1823.
James Fenton, in referring to this, says that, although Pedder was "a very useful member of the old council", he was "now wisely removed from the disturbing arena of political strife".