James Prendergast (judge)

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James Prendergast

Sir James Prendergast (born December 10, 1826 in London , † February 27, 1921 in Wellington ) was the third Chief Justice of New Zealand from 1875 to 1899 . Prendergast was the first Chief Justice to be appointed on the recommendation of an independent New Zealand government. He is mainly because of his far-reaching decision in the case of Wi Parata against the Bishop of Wellington in which he declared the Treaty of Waitangi for "null and void".

Early life

Prendergast was born in London in 1826 . He was the youngest son of Crown Attorney Michael Prendergast and his wife Caroline Dawe.

He was educated at St Paul's School in London. In 1845 he entered Caius College , Cambridge, but soon moved to Queens' College . In 1849 he received his BA . In 1849 he married Mary Jane Hall in Cambridge. The marriage remained childless. Prendergast was inducted into the Middle Temple in 1849 and should have worked as a lawyer in court. However, he taught at the Routledge's School in Bishop's Hull in the county Somersetshire .

In 1852 he traveled to the Australian state of Victoria to find gold . He had some success as a prospector but fell ill with dysentery and moved back to the city where he worked as a public clerk, first in Elephant Bridge, then in Carisbrook and in 1854 in Maryborough. In 1856 another Londoner, young Julius Vogel , opened a shop next to Prendergast's office in Dunolly Field near Maryborough. Vogel and Prendergast began a long and mutually beneficial relationship.

Prendergast decided to move to New Zealand and arrived in Dunedin with his wife on November 20, 1862 . In the same year he received the court license to practice Otago . His arrival in Dunedin coincided with the gold rush in Otago . 33 lawyers were registered in Dunedin in 1862, and 20 more in the following three years. Prendergast's first client was Julius Vogel, then editor of the Otago Daily Times .

In Dunedin, Prendergast was successful. He became a senior partner with Prendergast, Kenyon and Maddock . In 1863 he was appointed Acting Public Prosecutor of Otago Province and in 1865 he became Crown Solicitor in Otago.

Political career

From 1865 Prendergast rose from MP to the office of Attorney-General to Chief Justice of New Zealand. In November 1881 he was promoted to Knight Bachelor .

Legislative Council

Prendergast, John Parkin Taylor , Arthur Seymour , John Acland , James Crowe Richmond , James Rolland , Henry Miller , Henry Joseph Coote and Alfred Rowland Chetham-Strode were appointed members of the Legislative Council , the upper house of parliament, on July 8, 1865 . Prendergast resigned on March 15, 1867.

Attorney-General

On October 16, 1865, he became Attorney-General of New Zealand under Premier Edward Stafford . As Attorney-General, it was Prendergast's job to consolidate criminal law. In this process he drafted 94 laws. He also helped bring order to the legal professions - in 1870 the New Zealand Law Society was founded, with Prendergast as its first president.

In 1867 he resigned from the Legislative Council, resigned his office as Crown solicitor (prosecutor) in Otago, closed his office and moved to Wellington . He resigned on September 1, 1976 from the office of Attorney-General, his successor was Frederick Whitaker .

Chief Justice

On April 1, 1875 he was appointed Chief Justice by Governor Normanby to succeed George Arney at the proposal of the Vogel administration . His term of office ended on May 25, 1899, successor in office was Robert Stout .

Wi Parata v Bishop of Wellington

Prendergast's best known case was Wi Parata v the Bishop of Wellington in 1877. In this case it was about Māoriland in Porirua , which the Anglican Church had been given to build a school. However, the school was never built and Wi Parata demanded that the land be returned to the Ngāti Toa .

In his ruling, Prendergast argued that traditional "indigenous" property claims that were not based on a crown grant could not be recognized or enforced in the courts because the Waitangi Treaty was "null and void". He called the Māori "primitive barbarians" and said that they were "incapable of performing the duties of a civilized community and therefore not entitled to their rights." Prendergast's ruling was both revised and strengthened in 1938 in the Te Heuheu Tukino v Aotea District Maori Land Board trial . The court found that the Waitangi Treaty was effective in transferring sovereignty to the British, but as it was not part of New Zealand's codified law, it was not binding on the Crown.

Attack on Parihaka

As Chief Justice, Prendergast represented the Governor-General several times as Administrator of the Government . In 1881 he represented Arthur Gordon when he was visiting Fiji . Prendergast took advantage of the opportunity to authorize an attack on the village of Māori pacifist Te Whiti o Rongomai in Parihaka . The governor had previously made it clear that he was against such an action.

Next life

Prendergast resigned as Chief Justice on May 25, 1899 after his wife died on March 5. He became a director of Wellington Trust, Loan and Investment Company Limited and Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Limited . In May 1902 he was appointed a director of the Bank of New Zealand . He was also interested in agricultural issues and became the first president of the Manawatu and West Coast Agricultural and Pastoral Association . In 1912 Prendergast was given the honorary title “Honorable”.

Prendergast died in Wellington on February 27, 1921.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Prendergast, James . In: John Archibald Venn (Ed.): Alumni Cantabrigienses . A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900. Part 2: From 1752 to 1900 , Volume  5 : Pace – Spyers . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1953, pp. 185 ( venn.lib.cam.ac.uk Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  2. ^ "Legislative Council". Daily Southern Cross XXI (2511). August 5, 1865. p. 5. Retrieved February 1, 2012 ( paperspast.natlib.govt.nz digitalisat).
  3. ↑ Scholefield: New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840-1949 . 1950, p. 73-86 (English).
  4. ↑ Scholefield : New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840-1949 . 1950, p.  83 .
  5. ↑ Hoani Te Heuheu Tūkino VI . In: New Zealand History . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , November 8, 2017, accessed April 17, 2018 .
  6. ^ Latest intelligence - The Bank of New Zealand. The Times (London). March 11, 1902. (36712), p. 5.
  7. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 28567, HMSO, London, January 1, 1912, p. 2 ( PDF , accessed March 22, 2014, English).
personal data
SURNAME Prendergast, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION New Zealand lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1826
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 1921
Place of death Wellington