A Barrister's Blog

On 22 August 2022 (a few days ago), the former listed company Henry Morgan Limited was wound up on the just and equitable ground by his Honour Jackson J in the Federal Court.

Henry Morgan Ltd had a services agreement with John Bridgeman Ltd, which in turn managed investments for Bartholomew Roberts Pty Ltd and Benjamin Hornigold Ltd.

None of this would be blogworthy but for the introductory “Pirates of the Caribbean” paragraphs of the judgment where his Honour set out:

[5] According to the New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol 8 (15th ed, 1993), Sir Henry Morgan was a ‘Welsh buccaneer, most famous of the adventurers who plundered Spain’s Caribbean colonies during the late 17th century’….

[9] The book International Criminals Past and Present (Frederic Boutet, Walter Mostyn trans, Hutchinson & Co, 1930) records that ‘[c]onspicuous among those pirates of the seventeenth century were the strange beings who were known as the Kings of Madagascar, and of whom James Avery became the most famous’ (at 124). Avery had many aliases, including Henry Every, Long Ben and Captain Bridgeman, and so went by the name of John Bridgeman….

[11] International Criminals Past and Present describes Bartholomew Roberts as ‘undeniably the greatest pirate captain of his time’, and leader of the ‘most formidable gang of pirates that ruled the waves in the eighteenth century’; and

[12] Benjamin Hornigold was one of a ‘powerful and insolent’ group of pirates in the Bahamas though after receiving a pardon he ‘was back at sea; but this time in the service of law and order’ engaged ‘in hunting down his former associates’: Caribbean Pirates (Warren Alleyne, Macmillan Education, 1986)

I have also discovered a paper written by Justice Jackson titled: “The Role of Narrative in the Judicial Process” He’s obviously practising what he preaches!

Shout out to Jamieson Louttit (of JLA Insolvency & Advisory) for bringing this case to my attention.

Creative commons acknowledgment for the photograph.