Gaven Donne
{{Short description|New Zealand judge}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Sir Gaven Donne
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|KBE|size=100%}}
| image = Sir Gaven Donne KBE.jpeg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| office = 1st Queen's Representative to the Cook Islands
| monarch = Elizabeth II
| primeminister = Tom Davis
Geoffrey Henry
| term_start = 1982
| term_end = 18 September 1984
| predecessor = Office Established
| successor = Sir Graham Speight (Acting)
| birth_name = Gaven John Donne
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1914|5|8}}
| birth_place = Christchurch, New Zealand
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|2010|3|28|1914|5|8}}
| death_place =
| other_names =
| known_for =
| occupation =
}}
Sir Gaven John Donne {{post-nominals|country=NZL|KBE|size=85%}} (8 May 1914 – 28 March 2010) was a New Zealand-born former Chief Justice of Samoa, Niue, the Cook Islands, Nauru and Tuvalu.
Biography
Donne was born in Christchurch and educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School, Hastings Boys' High School, Victoria University College and Auckland University College.{{cite web |url=http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/judge-who-toppled-a-government-dies-20100329-r7in.html |title=Judge who toppled a government dies |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=29 March 2010 |accessdate=2010-04-01}} He was admitted to the bar in 1938, and became a magistrate in 1958.
Donne had a long legal career in the Pacific. In 1969 he was seconded to the Supreme Court of Samoa, and in 1972 he was appointed Chief Justice. In 1975 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Cook Islands and Niue. In 1978, he presided over the electoral petitions resulting from the 1978 Cook Islands election, which saw the Cook Islands Party of Albert Henry removed from power for electoral fraud.{{cite web |url=http://www3.paclii.org/ck/cases/CKHC/1978/1.html |title=Hosking v Browne (1978) CKHC 1; Misc 21-30, 32.1978 |date=24 July 1978 |accessdate=2010-04-01 |archive-date=26 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140926213350/http://www.paclii.org/ck/cases/CKHC/1978/1.html |url-status=dead }}
In 1982 he was appointed as the first Queen's Representative to the Cook Islands.{{cite web |url=http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2010/03/sir-gaven-donne-kbe/ |title=Sir Gaven Donne KBE |publisher=Scoop Media |date=30 March 2010 |accessdate=12 February 2021}} After completing his term, he became Chief Justice of Nauru and Tuvalu in 1985.
Donne retired from the bench in 2001 making him one of the longest serving judges in the Southern Hemisphere.{{cite web |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/classifieds/linead.cfm?pillar=14&subpillar=103&adid=7394628001 |title=Sir Gaven John Donne death notice |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=29 March 2010 |accessdate=2010-04-01}}
Honours and awards
In 1977, Donne was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal.{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Alister |last2=Coddington |first2=Deborah |authorlink1=Alister Taylor |authorlink2=Deborah Coddington |title=Honoured by the Queen – New Zealand |year=1994 |publisher=New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa |location=Auckland |isbn=0-908578-34-2 |page=124}} In the 1979 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.{{London Gazette |issue=47725 |date=30 December 1978 |supp=3 |page=39}}
References
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{{s-ttl|title=Chief Justice of Niue|years=1975–1982}}
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{{Queen's Representatives of the Cook Islands}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Donne, Gaven}}
Category:Queen's Representatives in the Cook Islands
Category:Chief justices of the Cook Islands
Category:Chief justices of Nauru
Category:Chief justices of Niue
Category:Chief justices of Samoa
Category:Chief justices of Tuvalu
Category:New Zealand judges on the courts of the Cook Islands
Category:New Zealand judges on the courts of Niue
Category:New Zealand judges on the courts of Samoa
Category:New Zealand judges on the courts of Nauru
Category:New Zealand judges on the courts of Tuvalu
Category:University of Auckland alumni
Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni
Category:New Zealand military personnel of World War II
Category:New Zealand Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
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