Richard Gibbons (c. 1734 – 3 August 1794) was a British jurist and politician who served as the chief justice of the Colony of Cape Breton, from 1785 until 1788 and again from 1791 until his 1794 death in Nantes, France.
Gibbons was a significant figure in the founding of the Colony of Cape Breton and was an ally of its first lieutenant-governor, Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres.
[2] This occurred after he became involved in a dispute with John Parr, the governor of Nova Scotia, over land grants to United Empire Loyalists.
In 1786, he presented a petition to the government in London seeking DesBarres' restoration as governor after he had been removed from his position following a dispute with John Yorke, the garrison commander for Cape Breton, the previous year.
During that dispute, Gibbons sided with DesBarres and attempted to use legal means to require Yorke to let the governor provide the colonists with military equipment.
[1] In 1788, following the failure of the Friendly Society, Gibbons attempted to have the grand jury be made the legislative assembly for the Colony of Cape Breton.