Sir Kenneth James Keith ONZ KBE KC PC (19 November 1937 – 13 May 2026) was a New Zealand jurist and legal scholar. He was elected to the International Court of Justice in November 2005 and served a nine-year term from 2006 to 2015.
Sir Kenneth Keith | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Keith in 2007 | |
| Justice of the Supreme Court | |
| In office 1 January 2004 – 18 November 2005 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 19 November 1937 Auckland, New Zealand |
| Died | 13 May 2026 (aged 88) Wellington, New Zealand |
| Spouse |
Jocelyn Buckett (m. 1961) |
| Children | 4 |
| Relatives | Judi Keith-Brown (daughter) |
| Profession | |
Early life and education
editKeith 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 and 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]
Career
editAdmitted 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.[4]
Keith was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1994.[5] 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,[6] and on 21 May 1998, he was appointed to the Privy Council.[7] 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,[8] 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.[9] He served until 2015.[10] 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.[11]
Personal life and death
editIn 1961, Keith married Jocelyn Margaret Buckett, and the couple went on to have four children, including architect Judi Keith-Brown.[1]
Keith died in Wellington on 13 May 2026, at the age of 88.[4]
Honours and awards
editIn 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.[12] 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.[13][14]
References
edit- 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.
- ↑ "NZ university graduates 1870–1961: I–K". Shadows of Time. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 "Press release from the International Court of Justice". Archived from the original on 12 November 2006. Retrieved 13 November 2005.
- 1 2 Winkelmann, Helen. "Chief Justice pays tribute to the Rt Hon Sir Kenneth Keith ONZ KBE PC KC" (PDF). Courts of New Zealand. Retrieved 13 May 2026.
- ↑ "Appointment of Queen's Counsel" (6 October 1994) 101 New Zealand Gazette 3001 at 3021.
- ↑ "Appointment of Judge of High Court and Court of Appeal" (15 February 1996) 13 New Zealand Gazette 421 at 443.
- ↑ "Appointments to the Privy Council" (28 May 1998) 74 New Zealand 1613 at 1644.
- ↑ "Appointment of Judges of the Supreme Court" (20 November 2003) 157 New Zealand Gazette 4333 at 4357.
- ↑ "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.
- ↑ "All Members | International Court of Justice".
- ↑ "Solemn declarations of Judge ad hoc Koroma | International Court of Justice" (PDF). www.icj-cij.org. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
- ↑ "No. 51367". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 11 June 1988. p. 34.
- ↑ "The Queen's Birthday Honours 2007" (13 June 2007) 63 New Zealand Gazette 1657.
- ↑ 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.