Richard Wild (judge)

Sir Herbert Richard Churton Wild , GBE , KCMG , PC , QC (born September 20, 1912 in Blenheim , New Zealand ; † May 22, 1978 in Karori, Wellington ) was a New Zealand lawyer who, among other things, was Solicitor-General of New Zealand as well as President of the Supreme Court ( Chief Justice of the Supreme Court ) between 1966 and his death in 1978 .

Life

Studies, lawyer and World War II

Wild, son of the teacher Leonard John Wild and his wife Doris Churton, spent his childhood in Wanganui and Christchurch before the family moved to Feilding . There he attended the Feilding Agricultural High School between 1925 and 1929 , of which his father was the founding rector. He himself got involved there as a student representative and chairman of the school council. In 1930 he began studying law at Victoria University College , graduating in 1934 with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) and in 1935 with a Master of Laws (LL.M.). During his studies he was president of the student union and was nominated for a Rhodes Scholarship . He was also a member of the college rugby and boxing team and also played for the rugby selection team of New Zealand universities . In addition to his studies, he worked intermittently as a clerk at the Department of Agriculture and later at the Brandon, Ward and Hislop law firm before joining the law firm Bell, Gully, Mackenzie and O'Leary . After their partner Humphrey O'Leary was appointed Crown Attorney (King's Counsel) , he became its secretary. In 1939 he finally opened his own law firm in Wellington and also taught part-time as a lecturer in law at Victoria University College until the outbreak of World War II .

In January 1940 Wild volunteered his military service with the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) and was relocated with his unit to the Middle East in November . After deployments in the Middle East, between December 1940 and November 1944 he took part in deployments in the Mediterranean theater as well as in the Italian campaign. He was last brigade major of the 4th Armored Brigade (4th New Zealand Armored Brigade) and was mentioned for his services in January 1943 in the war report ( Mentioned in dispatches ) .

Post War and Solicitor General

After his return to Wellington in 1945, Wild became a partner in the 1946 law firm Bell, Gully and Company . He also taught part-time as a lecturer in commercial law at Victoria University College and, together with DAS Ward, published the textbook Mercantile law in New Zealand in 1947 . In addition, he temporarily acted as deputy head of the legal department of the Army ( New Zealand Army ) and was a member of a commission to investigate war pensions between 1950 and 1951. In addition, between 1953 and 1954 he was legal advisor to a commission to investigate police behavior and a member of the board of directors of the Samuel Marsden Collegiate School in Wellington, named after the Anglican clergyman Samuel Marsden . In 1955 he was appointed Judge Advocate General of the Army as the Supreme Judge of the Land Forces.

Then in 1957 Wild succeeded Herbert Edgar Evans as Solicitor General . He was thus senior legal adviser to the Government and was at the same time Attorney General (Queen's Counsel) . During his tenure as Solicitor General, which lasted until 1966, he enlivened the Crown Law Office , which was responsible for providing legal advice to the government , by appointing experienced lawyers to the office to deal with the growing number of legal proceedings by the government and criminal proceedings by the administration. As the chief legal adviser to the government, he himself took in numerous famous proceedings before the Court of Appeal ( Court of Appeal ) and the Secret Privy Council ( Privy Council ) in part. In addition, he was active in 1910 as President of the Wellington Legal Society (Wellington District Law Society) and between 1962 and 1964 as Vice-President of the New Zealand Legal Society ( New Zealand Law Society ) . He was also chairman of the Committee on Absolute Liability from 1962 to 1963 , the forerunner of what would later become the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Compensation for Personal Injury . In 1964 he wrote the book Social progress and the legal process for the New Zealand Institute of Public Administration , in which he dealt with the requirements for legal processes due to social progress.

Chief Justice and Death

On January 18, 1966, Wild replaced Harold Barrowclough as President of the Supreme Court ( Chief Justice of the Supreme Court ) . At 53, he was the youngest incumbent since the appointment of James Prendergast , who took office at the age of 49 in 1875. At the same time he was beaten on March 4, 1966 to Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG) and from then on carried the suffix "Sir". He also became a member of the Privy Council (PC).

In his role as Chief Justice, he was exposed to the growing rise in civil and criminal litigation that led to a change in the legal system and jurisdiction of the Royal Commission on the Courts and the Royal Commission on Personal Injury . In addition, there were also changes in the administration of justice, such as an increase in the number of judges in metropolitan areas, a reform of the procedural rules and the delegation of judges to the Privy Council. He had played a key role in these changes and acted as presiding judge at external meetings of the Supreme Court, as a member of the Court of Appeal and as New Zealand representative at meetings of the Privy Council in London in 1969, 1972 and 1977. For his services was he Honorary Bencher of the English Bar Association ( Inns of Court ) of Inner Temple and 1969 honorary doctorate in law (Honorary LL.D.) from Victoria University of Wellington . In 1975 he was chairman of the 6th Asian Judicial Conference , which was held in New Zealand.

In 1977 he was diagnosed with a brain tumor , whereupon he resigned from his position as Chief Justice in early 1978 and was replaced by Ronald Davison on January 3, 1978 . On February 11, 1978 he was raised to the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) for his outstanding services . Wild, who had been married to his former fellow student and then teacher Janet Grainger in Wellington since August 19, 1940 , died on May 22, 1978 in the Wellington suburb of Karori of the consequences of the brain tumor. His marriage resulted in two daughters and two sons, including the future judge of the Court of Appeal John Wild.

Publications

• Mercantile law in New Zealand , coauthored DAS Ward, 1947
• Social progress and the legal process , 1964

Web links

• Entry in Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Individual evidence

1. ↑ London Gazette . No. 43915, HMSO, London, March 4, 1966, p. 2421 ( PDF , accessed May 30, 2017, English).
2. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 47471, HMSO, London, February 23, 1978, p. 2451 ( PDF , accessed May 30, 2017, English).