Gordon Ward (judge)
{{short description|British judge}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Sir Frederik Gordon Roy Ward OBE is a retired British judge who has served in various countries of the Commonwealth.
Early life
He was educated in England, obtaining a BSc in botany, zoology and geology, and then taught biology in Northern Ireland.
Career
Ward studied law and was called to the bar at the Middle Temple and practiced from chambers in London for 12 years.{{cite web|url=http://pjc2014.org.nz/speakers/|title= 21ST PACIFIC JUDICIAL CONFERENCE 2014|accessdate= 19 February 2016}}
In 1979 he went to the South Pacific, where he first worked in Fiji for six and a half years. He then served as a judge on the Court of Appeal of Solomon Islands where, from circa 1988 to 1992, he was Chief Justice.{{cite web |url=http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2004/April/04-22-02.htm |title=BRITISH JUDGE RESIGNS POST IN TONGA |publisher=Pacific Islands Report |date=22 April 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312041823/http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2004/April/04-22-02.htm |archive-date=12 March 2016}} He then moved to Tonga to become Chief Justice of Tonga and a judge of the Supreme Court of Tonga.Susan Boyd (2003), "Australian judges at work internationally", Australian Law Journal, vol. 77, p. 303 at 305. In 1995 he moved to serve as a judge in Cyprus before returning in 1998 to serve a second term as Chief Justice of Tonga, resigning in 2004 in protest at attempts to ban the Times of Tonga newspaper, a paper unsympathetic to the government, a move which he considered to be unconstitutional.
On leaving this post he took up a new position as the President of the Appeal Court of Fiji.{{cite web|work=Radio New Zealand International|title=Tuvalu govt yet to address Fiji travel ban on Chief Justice|date=14 August 2013|url=http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=78301|accessdate=14 August 2013}} In 2007, following the December 2006 military coup, Ward and five other judges resigned as judges of the courts of Fiji.{{cite web|url=http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=34901|title=Two Malaysian judges appointed to Fiji Court of Appeal |date=4 September 2007|work=Radio New Zealand International|accessdate=26 September 2011}}
He was the Chief Justice of the Turks and Caicos Islands from 2008 to 2012 and was knighted in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to the judiciary in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Commonwealth.{{London Gazette|issue=60009|date=31 December 2011|page=2|supp=y }}
Ward was the Chief Justice of the High Court of Tuvalu from 2001 to 2016. In May 2013 the Chief Justice ruled on the application of the Tuvaluan Opposition regarding the calling of a by-election for the vacant seat in Nukufetau,{{cite web| work= PACLII |title= Attorney General, In re Application under Section 131(1) of the Constitution of Tuvalu [2014] TVHC 15; Civil Case 1.2013 (24 May 2013)|url= http://www.paclii.org/tv/cases/TVHC/2014/15.html| accessdate=5 April 2015}} which led to the 2013 Nukufetau by-election.{{cite web|last=Matau |first=Robert |title=Tuvalu's high court orders by-election to be held |publisher=Island Business |date=June 2013 |url=http://www.islandsbusiness.com/2013/6/politics/tuvalus-high-court-orders-by-election-to-be-held/ |accessdate=23 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053300/http://www.islandsbusiness.com/2013/6/politics/tuvalus-high-court-orders-by-election-to-be-held/ |archivedate=21 September 2013 }} The Chief Justice was forced to conduct the legal proceedings by email as a consequence of being unable to travel from New Zealand to Tuvalu via Fiji as the Fijian regime refused to provide Sir Gordon Ward with a visa that allowed him to travel from New Zealand to Fiji and then to transit to Tuvalu.{{cite web|title=Tuvalu Judge unable to transit via Fiji| publisher=Cook Islands News |chapter=|date =|url=http://issuu.com/cinews/docs/cook-islands-news-2014-01-24|accessdate=28 April 2014}}{{cite web|work=Radio New Zealand International|title = Tuvalu hopes Fiji's travel ban on chief justice sorted quickly|date=16 August 2013|url=http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=78361| accessdate=16 August 2013}}{{cite web|title=Visa issue between Chief Justice Ward and Fiji Government says Tuvalu PM|publisher=Island Business from FENUI NEWS/PACNEWS|date=22 January 2014|url=http://www.islandsbusiness.com/news/tuvalu/4346/visa-issue-between-chief-justice-ward-and-fiji-gov/|accessdate=23 January 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201200435/http://www.islandsbusiness.com/news/tuvalu/4346/visa-issue-between-chief-justice-ward-and-fiji-gov/|archivedate=1 February 2014}}
In 2019 he was appointed as acting Chief Justice of Tuvalu,{{cite web |url= https://tuvaluparadise.tv/2021/01/11/government-appoints-first-high-court-judge/|title= Government Appoints First High Court Judge|publisher=Tuvalu Paradise - Issue No. 01/2021 |date= 11 January 2021|access-date=31 January 2021}} pending the appeal by the Hon Charles Sweeney QC against the termination of his appointment by a resolution of the Parliament.
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:Members of the Middle Temple
Category:Chief justices of Tuvalu
Category:British judges on the courts of Fiji
Category:British judges on the courts of Tonga
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Chief justices of the Solomon Islands
Category:Chief justices of the Turks and Caicos Islands
Category:Supreme Court of Tonga justices
Category:Chief justices of Tonga
Category:British judges on the courts of Tuvalu
Category:British judges on the courts of the Solomon Islands