bush-lawyer

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

n.


1) A Bramble.See Lawyer.

2) Name often used for a layman who fancies he knows all aboutthe law without consulting a solicitor. He talks a great deal,and `lays down the law.'

1896. H. G. Turner, `Lecture on J. P. Fawkner':

«For some years he cultivated and developed his capacity forrhetorical argument by practising in the minor courts of law inTasmania as a paid advocate, a position which in those days,and under the exceptional circumstances of the Colony, was notrestricted to members of the legal profession, and the termBush Lawyer probably takes its origin from the practice of thisperiod.»

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