"The Chapman family was the first of New Zealand's legal dynasties. Henry Samuel Chapman was the first puisine judge of the Supreme Court; his son Frederick Revans Chapman was teh first New Zealand born Supreme Court judge; and another son, Martin founded one of the country's leading legal firms, which still bears his name ... This book provides a record of the lives and careers of three significant figures in nineteenth and early twentieth century colonial history. It casts light on important aspects of society and law at that time; notoably, the characteristics and values of the educated, aspirant classes, and the development of essentially English institutions and laws in the colonial environment." -- Back cover.