Sir Johann Thomas Eichelbaum, GBE,
QCQueen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of "Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law". Membership exists in various Commonwealth countries around the world and it is a status, conferred by the Crown,...
(艾俊彬爵士) (born May 17 1931) was the eleventh
Chief Justice of New ZealandThe Chief Justice of New Zealand is the head of the New Zealand judiciary, and presides over the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Before the establishment of the latter court in 2004 the Chief Justice was the presiding judge in the High Court of New Zealand and was also ex officio a member of the...
.
He was born in
KonigsbergKönigsberg was the capital of eastern Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945. It was founded by the Teutonic Knights just south of the Sambian peninsula in the year 1255 AD during the Northern Crusades and named for King Ottokar II of Bohemia...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, and his family emigrated to
WellingtonWellington is the capital of New Zealand, at the southwestern tip of the North Island between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range. The Wellington urban area is the major population centre of the southern North Island and is New Zealand's third most populous urban area with residents. There are ...
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
in 1938 to escape the persecution of Jews. He was educated at
Hutt Valley High SchoolHutt Valley High School is a state co-educational secondary school located in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. It is a uniformed school. The current principal is Ross Sinclair. Hutt Valley High School has continued to expand and now has a diverse school population from over 60 different national and...
, then attended
Victoria University of WellingtonVictoria University of Wellington, also known in Māori as Te Whare Wānanga o te Ūpoko o te Ika a Māui, was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and...
graduating with a LL.B in 1954.
Sir Thomas was appointed
Queen's CounselQueen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of "Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law". Membership exists in various Commonwealth countries around the world and it is a status, conferred by the Crown,...
in 1978. He was President of the New Zealand Law Society in 1980-1982.
Sir Johann Thomas Eichelbaum, GBE,
QCQueen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of "Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law". Membership exists in various Commonwealth countries around the world and it is a status, conferred by the Crown,...
(艾俊彬爵士) (born May 17 1931) was the eleventh
Chief Justice of New ZealandThe Chief Justice of New Zealand is the head of the New Zealand judiciary, and presides over the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Before the establishment of the latter court in 2004 the Chief Justice was the presiding judge in the High Court of New Zealand and was also ex officio a member of the...
.
Early life
He was born in
KonigsbergKönigsberg was the capital of eastern Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945. It was founded by the Teutonic Knights just south of the Sambian peninsula in the year 1255 AD during the Northern Crusades and named for King Ottokar II of Bohemia...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, and his family emigrated to
WellingtonWellington is the capital of New Zealand, at the southwestern tip of the North Island between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range. The Wellington urban area is the major population centre of the southern North Island and is New Zealand's third most populous urban area with residents. There are ...
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
in 1938 to escape the persecution of Jews. He was educated at
Hutt Valley High SchoolHutt Valley High School is a state co-educational secondary school located in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. It is a uniformed school. The current principal is Ross Sinclair. Hutt Valley High School has continued to expand and now has a diverse school population from over 60 different national and...
, then attended
Victoria University of WellingtonVictoria University of Wellington, also known in Māori as Te Whare Wānanga o te Ūpoko o te Ika a Māui, was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a former constituent college of the University of New Zealand. It is particularly well known for its programmes in law, the humanities, and...
graduating with a LL.B in 1954.
Judge of the High Court of New Zealand
Sir Thomas was appointed
Queen's CounselQueen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of "Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law". Membership exists in various Commonwealth countries around the world and it is a status, conferred by the Crown,...
in 1978. He was President of the New Zealand Law Society in 1980-1982. He was appointed a judge of the
High Court of New ZealandThe High Court of New Zealand was established in 1841 and known as the Supreme Court until 1980.The High Court has general jurisdiction and responsibility, under the Judicature Act 1908, for the administration of justice throughout New Zealand...
in 1982.
Chief Justice of New Zealand
In 1989 he was appointed the Chief Justice of New Zealand. He retired from the Bench in 1999.
Retirement
Since retiring as a judge, Sir Thomas has conducted investigations on a number of controversial topics. He chaired the 2000-2001
Report of the Royal Commission on Genetic ModificationReport of the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification was published in 2001 by the government appointed Royal Commission on Genetic Modification.Thomas Eichelbaum chaired the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification.-External links:...
. He also investigated the reasons for New Zealand losing co-hosting rights to the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Following his report, the chairman and the CEO of the New Zealand Rugby Union both resigned.
In 2001, he conducted a ministerial inquiry reviewing children's evidence in the controversial
Peter EllisPeter Hugh McGregor Ellis is a former Christchurch child care worker who has been at the centre of one of New Zealand's most enduring judicial controversies. In June 1993 Ellis was found guilty on 16 counts of sexual offences involving children in his care at the Christchurch Civic Creche and was...
case. His report, which has been widely criticised
, upheld the guilty verdicts and stands in contrast to an earlier report by retired High Court judge,
Sir Thomas ThorpSir Thomas Murray Thorp KNZM is a retired New Zealand judge.From 1963 to 1979, he was the Crown Solicitor in Gisborne. He sat as a judge in the High Court of New Zealand from 1979 until 1996, the year he was knighted....
. A New Zealand Law Journal editorial has stated that Eichelbaum had either not read all the children's statements (reviewing only those allowed by the trial judge) or that, "with respect, his judgement is at fault."
He was knighted a Knight Grand Cross of the British Empire (GBE) in 1989 and became a Privy Councillor in 1989. Eichelbaum is (May 2008) a non-permanent judge of the Hong Kong SAR
Court of Final AppealThe Court of Final Appeal is the court with the final adjudication power on the laws of Hong Kong.Before 1st July 1997, Hong Kong was a British dependent territory, and the power of final adjudication on the laws of Hong Kong was vested in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London...
and a part-time member of the Fiji Court of Appeal.
He is married with three sons and lives on the
Kapiti CoastThe Kapiti Coast is the name of the section of the coast of the south-western North Island of New Zealand that is north of Wellington and opposite Kapiti Island. It falls under the jurisdiction of the Wellington Regional Council...
, north of Wellington.
External links