The Right Honourable Robin Brunskill Cooke, Baron Cooke of Thorndon of Wellington in New Zealand and of Cambridge in the County of Cambridgeshire., ONZ, KBE, PC, Ph.D, LL.M is a member of the British House of Lords. Prior to reaching the age of 75 he was a Lord of Appeal and a member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, however he is now beyond statutory retirement age for judicial work. he is widely considered New Zealand's greatest jurist, and is the only New Zealand judge to have sat in the House of Lords.
Education
Lord Cooke of Thorndon was educated at the Wanganui Collegiate School. His university education was at the Victoria University College, New Zealand from where he graduated with a Master of laws degree. He subsequently studied at Clare College as a Research Fellow, and at Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge (on a travelling scholarship) where he was awarded a Master of Arts degree in 1954 and, subsequently, a Ph.D in 1955.
Legal Career
Cooke was admitted to the New Zealand bar in 1950, and was also admitted to the English bar as a barrister of Inner Temple in 1954. He practised law in New Zealand as a barrister for for almost twenty years, and was appointed as a Queen's Counsel in 1964. In 1972 he was appointed as a Judge of the (former) New Zealand Supreme Court (now High Court). He held this position until 1976 when he was elevated to the New Zealand Court of Appeal (at that time the highest local court in that country). In 1986, he was appointed as President of that Court - a position he was to hold for the next 10 years. On his retirement from the Court of Appeal in 1996 he was granted a British Life Peerage, becoming a member of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords where he sat as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (Law Lord) until his retirement in 2001. He has also sat (from time to time) as President in the Courts of Appeal of Samoa, the Cook Islands and Kiribati; as well as being a Non-Permanent Judge on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal and a Judge of the Fijian Supreme Court. He was the first Commonwealth judge to sit in the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords on United Kingdom appeals and adjudicated on nearly a hundred cases in the House of Lords and the Privy Council.
Legal Philosophy and Influence on the Law
Cooke is regarded as one of the most influential jurists in New Zealand in the latter quarter of the 20th century. He took what could be considered a liberal viewpoint in many areas, often seeking to assert a right for the courts to intervene where none was prescribed in legislation. In his extra-judicial writings, he also speculated that, in the most exceptional circumstances, an Act of Parliament that egregiously violated fundamental rights might be void at common law. This view contradicted the dominant parliamentary supremacy theories of A. V. Dicey, which had guided common law courts since the late 19th century. However, Cooke's view recalled a similar opinion expressed by the famous 17th century English jurist (and Cooke's namesake), Sir Edward Coke.
Cooke, not uncontroversially, asserted and developed his views in a number of judgments issued throughout his time on the bench. He is credited with having contributed considerably to the development of administrative law in New Zealand and internationally, and was also recognised for his contribution to the law relating to the Treaty of Waitangi.
Honours and Awards
- 1977: Knight Bachelor.
- 1977: Appointed to the Privy Council.
- 1986: Knight of the British Empire (KBE).
- 1982: Honourary Fellow Gonville and Caius College.
- 1985: Honourary Bencher of Inner Temple.
- 1989: Honourary Doctorate of Laws (LLD) Victoria University of Wellington.
- 1990: Honourary Doctorate of Laws (LLD) University of Cambridge.
- 1991: Honourary Doctorate of Civil Law (DCL) University of Oxford.
- 1993: Appointed to the International Commission of Jurists.
- 1996: Created a Life Peer.
- 2000: Member of the Order of New Zealand.
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