Obituary, the Right Honourable Sir Kenneth Keith, ONZ KBE PC KC

As New Zealand’s pre-eminent expert in international law, for over five decades Sir Kenneth made many major contributions to the development, reformation, and teaching of law, both in New Zealand and internationally. He passed away on 13 May, aged 88.

Sir Kenneth’s distinguished contributions within the legal profession included serving on New Zealand’s Court of Appeals, High Court and Supreme Court, and on the United Nations’ International Court of Justice. He was also deeply involved in framing important statutes that reformed New Zealand law, and as a Professor, educated generations of law students. 

Sir Kenneth completed a Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of Auckland in 1960. Throughout his later academic career at Victoria University, he maintained a strong and highly appreciated involvement with the University of Auckland’s Law School, providing expert advice to its Deans and teaching staff and showing continued interest in the Law School’s students. 

The University of Auckland is very proud of Sir Kenneth’s remarkable contributions and recognised his achievements by awarding him an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2001. 

After being admitted to the bar in 1961 Sir Kenneth decided to embark on a Master of Laws (LLM) at Victoria University of Wellington, during which time he also lectured within the faculty. After graduating with his Masters degree from Victoria, he completed another Master of Laws, this time at Harvard Law School. 

Thereafter, he taught in Victoria University’s Faculty of Law from 1966 until 1991, rising to full Professor in 1974 and serving as the Dean from 1977 to 1981. He not only published widely on various aspects of national and international law and legal reform, but also as a teacher was committed to ensuring that his students fully understood legal process and the fundamental statutes within New Zealand’s constitution. After Sir Kenneth passed away, the Right Honourable Dame Winkelmann, New Zealand’s current Chief Justice, estimated that over 20 of this country’s senior court judges had been students of Sir Kenneth.

As a lawyer he appeared before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in both the mid-1970s and in 1995, advocating on New Zealand’s behalf against French nuclear testing in the Pacific. In 2006 Sir Kenneth returned to that same court — but this time as a judge. He was the very first (and is still the only) New Zealander appointed as a judge on the International Court of Justice and served on the Court for nine years. He also made further major contributions to international law through his seat on the United Kingdom’s Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Sir Kenneth’s judicial career began in the early 1980s. He first served as an Appeals Judge in Samoa, the Cook Islands, Niue and Fiji. In 1996 he was appointed to New Zealand’s High Court and the Court of Appeal. In January 2004 he was one of five inaugural judges named to New Zealand’s newly created Supreme Court, which replaced the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and became this nation’s final court of appeal. 

In addition to holding judicial appointments, Sir Kenneth played a huge role in shaping many of New Zealand’s most important statutes and legal reforms. Chief Justice, the Rt Hon Dame Helen Winkelmann, in her tribute to Sir Kenneth, wrote, “Through his work as a legal academic and as an adviser and law reformer, he not only helped to shape New Zealand’s constitutional settlement, but also helped to explain it to the rest of us. … As the author of the Introduction to the Cabinet Manual, Sir Ken produced one of New Zealand’s most important constitutional documents, articulating — in one place, in plain language, and for the first time — the foundations of our current form of government.”

Committees to which he contributed made recommendations that formed the basis for the Official Information Act 1982, the 1985 White Paper on a Bill of Rights for New Zealand and the Constitution Act 1986. He was also a member of the 1986 Royal Commission on the Electoral System, whose recommendations ultimately led to New Zealand’s adoption of a mixed-member (MMP) system for parliamentary representation. 

For his services to legal reform and legal education Sir Kenneth was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire in 1998. Another honour followed in 2007 when he was appointed a Member of the Order of New Zealand. The New Zealand Red Cross also awarded him the title Counsellor of Honour in 2000, in recognition for his extensive service to their organisation and his dedication to international humanitarian law.

Sir Kenneth Keith lived a life of outstanding service that had a major influence on New Zealand society and benefitted people beyond this country.

The University of Auckland extends our sincere condolences to his family, colleagues and friends.