Kenneth Keith

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The Right Honourable
Sir Kenneth Keith
ONZ KBE KC
Kenneth Keith ONZ 2007 (cropped).jpg
Keith in 2007
Personal details
Born (1937-11-19) 19 November 1937 (age 88)
Auckland, New Zealand
Spouse
​
(m. 1961)​
Relatives Judi Keith-Brown (daughter)
Alma mater
Profession

Sir Kenneth James Keith ONZ KBE KC PC (born 19 November 1937) is a New Zealand jurist and legal scholar. He was elected to the International Court of Justice in November 2005, serving a nine-year term during the years 2006 through 2015.

Contents

Early life and family

Keith was born in Auckland on 19 November 1937, and educated at Auckland Grammar School. [1] He went on to study law at the University of Auckland, Victoria University of Wellington, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1961 and a Master of Laws degree in 1964, before undertaking further study at Harvard Law School from 1964 to 1965. [1] [2]

In 1961, Keith married Jocelyn Margaret Buckett, and the couple went on to have four children, including architect Judi Keith-Brown. [1]

Career

Admitted to the New Zealand Bar in 1961, [3] Keith was employed by the Department of External Affairs from 1962 to 1964. [1] He was a faculty member of Victoria University of Wellington from 1962 to 1964, and from 1966 to 1991, rising to become a full professor in 1974, and serving as dean of law between 1977 and 1981. [1] He was a member of the United Nations Secretariat from 1968 to 1970, and director of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs from 1972 to 1974. [1]

From 1982, Keith sat (as required) as a judge of appeal in Samoa and the Cook Islands. [1]

In 1991, Keith became president of the New Zealand Law Commission, [1] and he was a member of the Royal Commission on the Electoral System that was key in changing New Zealand's electoral system. [3] In 1993, he was a member of the Working Party on the Reorganisation of the Income Tax Act 1976 which was instrumental in launching a fundamental reform of the way in which New Zealand tax legislation was written.[ citation needed ]

Keith was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1994. [4] From 1995, he sat as appeal in Niue. [3] In 1996, he was appointed to the bench in New Zealand as a judge of both the High Court and the Court of Appeal, [5] and on 21 May 1998, he was appointed to the Privy Council. [6] From 2003, Keith served a judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji, and he has also sat as the chair of a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tribunal (UPS v Canada). [3]

In 2004, Keith was one of the inaugural appointments to the new Supreme Court of New Zealand, [7] which replaced the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as New Zealand's highest court from 1 July 2004.

In 2006, Keith became the first New Zealander to be elected to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), having previously presented as a member of the New Zealand legal team in the Nuclear Tests cases before the ICJ in 1973, 1974 and 1995. [8] He served until 2015. [9] Keith subsequently served as a judge ad hoc in two cases before the ICJ, appointed by Azerbaijan. He resigned from these positions on 21 April 2023, and was replaced by Judge Abdul G. Koroma. [10]

Honours and awards

In the 1988 Queen's Birthday Honours, Keith was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to law reform and legal education. [11] In 1990, he was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. [1] In the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Member of the Order of New Zealand. [12] [13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Taylor, Alister; Coddington, Deborah (1994). Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand. Auckland: New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa. p. 211. ISBN   0-908578-34-2.
  2. ↑ "NZ university graduates 1870–1961: I–K". Shadows of Time. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Press release from the International Court of Justice". Archived from the original on 12 November 2006. Retrieved 13 November 2005.
  4. ↑ "Appointment of Queen's Counsel" (6 October 1994) 101 New Zealand Gazette 3001 at 3021.
  5. ↑ "Appointment of Judge of High Court and Court of Appeal" (15 February 1996) 13 New Zealand Gazette 421 at 443.
  6. ↑ "Appointments to the Privy Council" (28 May 1998) 74 New Zealand 1613 at 1644.
  7. ↑ "Appointment of Judges of the Supreme Court" (20 November 2003) 157 New Zealand Gazette 4333 at 4357.
  8. ↑ "New Zealand at the International Court of Justice". Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Archived from the original on 8 May 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
  9. ↑ "All Members | International Court of Justice".
  10. ↑ "Solemn declarations of Judge ad hoc Koroma | International Court of Justice" (PDF). www.icj-cij.org. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  11. ↑ "No. 51367". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 11 June 1988. p. 34.
  12. ↑ "The Queen's Birthday Honours 2007" (13 June 2007) 63 New Zealand Gazette 1657.
  13. ↑ Johnston, Martin (4 June 2007). "Heroes in word and deed". The New Zealand Herald . Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 4 June 2007.
Legal offices
Preceded by Judge of International Court of Justice
2006–2015		Succeeded by
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