Alfred North (jurist)

{{Infobox officeholder

| image = Sir Alfred Kingsley North (cropped).jpg

| caption = North as a young man

| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable

| name = Sir Alfred North

| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|KBE|QC|size=100%}}

| order = President of the Court of Appeal

| term_start = 1963

| term_end = 1972

| predecessor = Kenneth Gresson

| successor = Alexander Turner

| birth_name = Alfred Kingsley North

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1900|12|17|df=y}}

| birth_place = Christchurch, New Zealand

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1981|06|22|1900|12|17|df=y}}

| death_place = Auckland, New Zealand

| spouse =

| father = John North

}}

Sir Alfred Kingsley North {{post-nominals|country=NZL|KBE|PC|QC|size=85%}} (17 December 1900 – 22 June 1981), also known as Alf North, was a New Zealand lawyer and judge. He was President of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand from 1963 until his retirement in 1972.

Biography

North was born in Christchurch in 1900, the son of Baptist minister John North.{{cite book |title=Who's Who in New Zealand, 1978 |last=Traue |first=James Edward |year=1978 |edition=11th |publisher=Reed Publishing |location=Wellington |page=209}}{{DNZB |title=John James North |first= Angus |last= MacLeod |id=3n11 |accessdate=27 April 2021}} As a teenager, North contracted polio and had a limp for the rest of his life.{{cite web |title=Four different directions in the law |url=https://www.lawsociety.org.nz/news/lawtalk/law-talk-issue-937/four-different-directions-in-the-law/ |publisher=New Zealand Law Society |access-date=27 April 2021 |date=16 March 2020}} He received his education at West Christchurch District High School, Christchurch Boys' High School, and then attended Canterbury University College, graduating LLM in 1927.{{cite web |url= http://shadowsoftime.co.nz/university18.html |title=NZ university graduates 1870–1961: Mu–O |accessdate=8 February 2015}}

He first practiced in Ashburton from 1921. After obtaining his Master of Laws, he was in partnership in Hāwera. From 1935, he was a barrister and a partner in the legal firm Earl, Kent, Stanton, Massey, North and Palmer in Auckland, replacing Erima Northcroft who had been appointed judge. In 1951, North was appointed judge of the Supreme Court. When the Court of Appeal was reconstituted in Wellington in 1957, North was one of its founding members and relocated to the capital city, where he lived in Wadestown.{{cite book |title=Who's Who in New Zealand, 1964 |last=Petersen |first=George Conrad |authorlink=George Petersen (historian) |year=1964 |edition=8th |publisher=A.H. & A.W. Reed |location=Wellington |page=223}} North was the president of the Court of Appeal from 1963 to 1972.

Between 1976 and 1978, North conducted a commission of inquiry into an alleged breach of confidentiality of the police file on Colin Moyle.{{cite web |url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/33416/commissions-of-inquiry-1909-2011 |title=Commissions of inquiry |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage |accessdate=8 February 2015}}{{cite news | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110833168 | title=Strains and tensions in the NZ Opposition | date=3 January 1977| work=The Canberra Times| accessdate=8 February 2015 | page=2}}

For the respective Auckland branches, North was president for Rotary and chairman of the New Zealand Crippled Children's Society.{{cite book |title=Who's Who in New Zealand, 1951 |last=Scholefield |first=Guy |authorlink=Guy Scholefield |year=1951 |edition=5th |publisher=A.H. & A.W. Reed |location=Wellington |page=174}}

Family

On 31 December 1924, North married Thelma Areta Dawson (1902–1991) at Oxford Terrace Baptist Church in Christchurch, with his father officiating the ceremony.{{cite news |title=Late social news |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS19241231.2.72 |access-date=27 April 2021 |work=The Star |issue=17425 |date=31 December 1924 |page=7}} North died on 22 June 1981 in Auckland.{{cite book |title=Who's Who in New Zealand, 1991 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6x8OAQAAMAAJ |last1=Lambert |first1=Max |year=1991 |edition=12th |publisher=Octopus |location=Auckland|isbn = 9780790001302 |page=727}} His wife survived him by ten years. Both were cremated at Purewa Cemetery and Crematorium.{{cite web |title=Burial & Cremation Details |url=https://www.purewa.co.nz/view/?id=87205 |publisher=Purewa Cemetery and Crematorium |access-date=27 April 2021}}{{cite web |title=Burial & Cremation Details |url=https://www.purewa.co.nz/view/?id=107136 |publisher=Purewa Cemetery and Crematorium |access-date=27 April 2021}}

Honours

Alongside Ossie Mazengarb, North was appointed King's Counsel on 18 April 1947.{{cite news |title=King's Counsel |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19470419.2.80 |access-date=27 April 2021 |work=Otago Daily Times |issue=26440 |date=19 April 1947 |page=6}}{{cite news |title=Two appointments to King's Counsel |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19470419.2.78 |access-date=27 April 2021 |work=The Northern Advocate |date=19 April 1947 |page=7}}{{cite web |url=http://www.crownlaw.govt.nz/uploads/qcs_001.pdf |title=Queen's Counsel appointments since 1907 as at July 2014 |date=July 2014 |publisher=Crown Law Office |accessdate=8 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113070217/http://www.crownlaw.govt.nz/uploads/qcs_001.pdf |archive-date=13 January 2015 |url-status=dead}} He was made a Knight Bachelor in the 1959 Queen's Birthday Honours.{{London Gazette |issue=41729 |date=13 June 1959 |page=3739 |supp=3}} In the 1964 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.{{London Gazette |issue=43202 |date=1 January 1964 |page=40 |supp=3}} He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1966.{{cite web |url=http://www.leighrayment.com/pcouncil/pcouncil3.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080607022503/http://leighrayment.com/pcouncil/pcouncil3.htm |archive-date=7 June 2008 |title=Privy Counsellors 1915–1968 |date=22 December 2014 |url-status=usurped |accessdate=8 February 2015}}