New Zealand Law Society 1869-2019
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A Changing Profession NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY 1869-2019 BY GEOFF ADLAM 18 LAWTALK 932 · SEPTEMBER 2019 NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY ◂ Portrait of Sir James Prendergast, ca 1890–1900 Ref: 1/2-031752-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand On 20 November the New Zealand Law Society Act 1869 Amendment Act 1877 makes it lawful for Law Society members to form a district law society in any Supreme Court district and to elect a Council. The New Zealand Jurist says the number of legal prac- titioners in New Zealand is 225. 1869 1870 1875 1876 1877 On 19 February by warrant James Prendergast is the Governor appoints a appointed Chief Justice. As 12-man Council with James far as can be determined, Prendergast, Attorney- no successor as President General, as President. was appointed. On 3 September Parliament passes the New Zealand Law Society’s Act 1869, for all bar- risters and solicitors of the Supreme Court lawfully practising within the Colony of New Zealand to “for ever hereafter be and be called one body politic and corporate in deed and in law by the name of style of ‘The New Zealand Law Society’.” The New Zealand Law Society is the second lawyers’ organisation to come into exist- ▸ New Zealand Law ence. On 16 October 1868 the Canterbury Society’s Act 1869 District Law Society was established at a New Zealand Acts As meeting in Christchurch. Enacted, NZLII 19 NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY SEPTEMBER 2019 · LAWTALK 932 ◂ Sir Āpirana Ngata, photographed in 1910 by Herman John Schmidt Ref: 1/1-001566-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand On 18 February the Hawke’s Bay District Law Society is founded. On 12 August the Nelson District Law Society is founded. 1878 1879 1882 1885 1885 On 6 June the Marlborough ▾ New court room interior being District Law Society is constructed, Court of Appeal, founded. Wellington. Evening Post photographer, 15 Jan 1960 Ref: EP/1960/0162-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand On 31 January Westland District Law Society is founded. On 6 March the Taranaki District Law Society is founded. On 7 June the Law Society of the District of Otago and Southland is founded. On 26 August the Wellington District Law Society is founded. On 11 November the District Law Societies Act 1878 deems the 1877 amend- ment “ineffective” and establishes firm rules for formation of District Law Societies. Any District member “aggrieved by the decision” of the District, has a right of appeal to the Council of the New Zealand Law Society. Amendment Acts in 1879 and 1882 are introduced. On 21 December the Southland District Law Society is founded. 20 LAWTALK 932 · SEPTEMBER 2019 NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY On 26 March Āpirana Turupa Ngata (later Sir Apirana) is the first Māori to be admitted as a barrister and solicitor. In February the Gisborne District Law On 3 May Walter Scott Reid is unanimously elected the Society is founded. first President of the New Zealand Law Society. Solicitor- General for a record 25 years from 1875 to 1900, Mr Reid is On 7 June 10 King’s Counsel are appointed: the only in-house lawyer to have held the role. the first in New Zealand. 112 years later, 317 members of the profession have been On 10 May Ethel Benjamin becomes the first European honoured with the rank. woman to be admitted as a barrister and solicitor. She is followed nine years later by Matilda Monteith and Eliza Melville (both admitted 1906), Geraldine Hemus (1907), Annie Rees (1910), Hariette Vine (1915) and Lyra Taylor (1918). Sir Francis Henry Dillon Bell KC becomes President in January and remains so until 1918 – the longest tenure of any President. His equally long CV includes terms as Mayor of Wellington, a founder of Bell Gully, one of On 11 September The Female Law the first King’s Counsel, Cabinet Minister, Practitioners Act 1896 allows women aged acting Prime Minister four times, and Prime 21 and over to be enrolled as a barrister Minister for 16 days in 1925. or solicitor. 1896 1897 1901 1907 ▸ Dunedin Court opening 1902 Otago Witness, 2 July 1902. Photo courtesy of the Otago Daily Times 21 SEPTEMBER 2019 · LAWTALK 932 ◂ Wellington District Lieutenant Herman Baddeley, 23, was killed Law Society building, on 25 April 1915 during the first day of the Wellington. Duncan Gallipoli invasion. He was the first of 54 Winder, ca 1962–1965 lawyers and a similar number of law clerks Ref: DW-1299-F. who died while serving during World War Alexander Turnbull I. Quartermaster Sergeant Benson Wyman, Library, Wellington, 36, and Private Percy Henderson, 24, both New Zealand. died of influenza in New Zealand on 15 November 1918, the last of the lawyer soldiers who died because of the war. On 4 August in the great 1908 Statutes Consolidation, the Law Practitioners Act 1908 brings together 12 previous Acts which regulate the legal profes- sion. District Law Societies are empowered to issue practising certificates and to institute prosecutions and other proceedings for breach of any statute or rules relating to the practice of law in the district, with right of appeal to the Council of the New Zealand Law Society. The New Zealand On 23 October the Law Society’s Council is to consist of representatives of each of the Districts Wanganui District Law and the Council is to elect the President and Vice-President. Society is founded. On 8 December the Hamilton District Law Society is founded. 1908 1913 1914-1918 22 LAWTALK 932 · SEPTEMBER 2019 NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY ◂ Portrait of Sir Charles Perrin Skerrett. Hardie Shaw Studios of Wellington, ca 1900–1910 Ref: PAColl-6418-1-12. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. A Royal Commission on University Education issues a report which is Charles Perrin Skerrett KC very critical of the quality becomes President. He of legal education and served until 1 February 1926 says the phrase “learned when he was appointed counsel” is in danger of Chief Justice and knighted. becoming a sarcasm. His time as Chief Justice was short and he died at sea en route to England on 13 February 1929. 1918 1919 1923 1924 1925 Harold Herbert Carr is ◂ Left: Walter Scott appointed to the bench Reid of the Native (later Māori) Henry Ah Kew becomes Published in Portrait Land Court, the first Māori the first person of Chinese of a Profession: The to be appointed a judicial ethnicity to obtain an LLB centennial book of officer. (from Auckland) and to be the New Zealand Law admitted as a barrister and Society, 1969. Original solicitor. source unidentified. New Zealand has 1,102 ◂ Right: Ethel Benjamin practising lawyers (1,096 ca 1896 men and six women as Hocken Library, Ethel Benjamin has moved University of Otago. to England). That gives one lawyer for every 1,102 people. ▸ View of Victoria Street, Hamilton. William A Price, ca 1905–1915 Ref: 1/2-001326-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. 23 NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY SEPTEMBER 2019 · LAWTALK 932 ▸ Group photograph of members of the Wellington legal profession. Muir and Stewart, 1903 Ref: PA7-49-33. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. Alexander Gray KC becomes President and remains so until his death on 28 April 1933. He was knighted in the 1933 New Year’s Honours. The first of what becomes a long-running series of triennial Law Society conferences is held in Wellington. Dwindling interest and the development of other forms of communi- cation saw the last conference held in Christchurch in 2001. 1926 1928 1929 1930 1932 The Rules Committee is established by statute to take over rule-making for the superior courts. On 25 October the Law Practitioners Amendment Act 1930 requires the University of New Zealand to hereafter conduct the examination of candidates for admission as barristers or solicitors. The New Zealand University Amendment Act 1930 establishes the Council of Legal Education to enable the University to do so. There are 1,779 practising lawyers – one for every 825 people. On 7 November the Law Practitioners Amendment (Solicitors’ Fidelity Guarantee Fund) Act 1929 makes the first legislative provision for a Fidelity Fund, administered On 1 January most of the Law Practitioners by the Law Society’s Council. Act 1931 comes into force after receiving the Royal assent on 11 November 1931. The New Zealand Law Society is established ◂ Charles Herbert Treadwell, ca 1934 (but declared to be the same Society as the Ref: PAColl-8972-3-05. Alexander one constituted under the 1908 Act) and Turnbull Library, Wellington, New deemed to consist of all practitioners who Zealand. are members of any District Law Society. 24 NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY ◂ Corner of Stuart street and Castle street showing the Dunedin Court On 18 August the New Zealand Council of Law Reporting Act 1938 comes into force, formally incorporating the body estab- lished in 1883 and responsible for publi- cation of the New Zealand Law Reports. Humphrey O’Leary KC (later Sir Humphrey) becomes President and In April Olive Virginia remains so until 1946 when he is appointed Chief Justice. “As President Malienafau Nelson he enjoyed tremendous popularity and goodwill all over the country. In becomes the first Samoan Council he was an excellent chairman, probably at his best with broad to graduate LLB. In August issues for he was not a man to be bothered with trivia,” Sir Richard Wild she is admitted as a bar- wrote in Portrait of a Profession. rister and solicitor, the first Samoan and Pacific On 26 October section 33 of the Law Practitioners Amendment Act 1935 woman to be admitted.