Composition of the court High Court of Australia

1 composition of court

1.1 appointment process
1.2 current composition
1.3 initial composition
1.4 expansion of composition
1.5 recent developments in composition
1.6 judge s associates

composition of court

the high court of australia composed of 7 justices: chief justice of australia , 6 other justices.

appointment process

appointments officially made governor-general in council. in practice, appointees nominated prime minister, on advice cabinet, particularly attorney-general of australia. example, 4 justices appointed while andrew fisher prime minister, largely on attorney-general billy hughes authority candidates chosen. since 1979, attorney-general has been required consult attorneys-general of states , territories of australia appointments court. process first used in relation appointment of justice wilson, , has been successful, despite occasional criticism states merely have consultative, rather determinative, role in selection process.

there no qualifications justices in constitution (other must under compulsory retirement age of 70). high court of australia act 1979 requires appointees have been judge of federal, state or territory court, or have been enrolled legal practitioner @ least 5 years either high court or state or territory supreme court. there no other formal requirements.

the appointment process stands in stark contrast highly public selection , confirmation process justices of supreme court of united states. while there people critical of secrecy of process , advocate more public method appointments, there relatively few dispute quality of appointees. 3 chief justices (sir adrian knox, sir john latham , sir garfield barwick) had been conservative politicians prior appointment. however, there frequent criticism of barwick s intervention in 1975 australian constitutional crisis, when gave advice governor-general sir john kerr. on other side of politics, labor politicians dr h. v. evatt qc, sir edward mctiernan , lionel murphy qc appointed high court; murphy, attorney-general in whitlam government, criticised conservative side @ time of appointment after decade in office had risen, on occasion, heights of acting chief justice. reputation gravely damaged in 1985 after illegal police phone-tapping led charges had attempted pervert course of justice. acquitted of charges.

current composition

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initial composition

the first bench of high court: barton, griffith , o connor seated, court officials in background. photo taken @ first sitting of court on 6 october 1903.

the first 3 justices of high court chief justice, sir samuel griffith, justice sir edmund barton, , justice richard edward o connor. there number of possible candidates first bench of high court. in addition eventual appointees, names had been mentioned in press included 2 future justices of court, henry higgins , isaac isaacs, along andrew inglis clark, sir john downer, sir josiah symon , george wise. (crucially, of above had served politicians, griffith , inglis clark possessing both political , judicial experience.) barton , o connor both members of federal parliament , both government benches; indeed barton prime minister. each of eventual appointees had participated in drafting of constitution , had intimate knowledge of it. 3 described conservative , jurisprudence influenced english law, , in relation constitution, united states law.

expansion of composition

in 1906, @ request of justices, 2 more seats added bench, isaacs , higgins appointees. after o connor s death in 1912, amendment judiciary act 1903 expanded bench seven. of 1930 2 seats left vacant due monetary constraints placed on court depression. economic downturn had led reduction in litigation , consequently less work court. after sir isaac isaacs retired in 1931, seat left empty, , in 1933 amendment judiciary act officially reduced number of seats six. however, led decisions being split three-all. appointment of william webb in 1946, number of seats returned seven, , since court has had full complement of 7 justices. of 2015 there have been 52 justices, twelve of whom have been chief justice.

recent developments in composition

current justices susan kiefel, virginia bell , michelle gordon third, fourth , fifth women sit on bench, after justices mary gaudron , susan crennan. there 3 women sitting concurrently on bench, alongside 4 men. in 2017, justice kiefel became first woman appointed chief justice.

more half of justices, twenty-six, have been residents of new south wales (with twenty-four of these graduates of sydney law school). thirteen have been victoria, 8 queensland , 4 western australia. no justices have been residents of south australia, tasmania or of territories. majority of justices have been protestant backgrounds, smaller number catholic backgrounds. sir isaac isaacs of polish/jewish background, representative of other faith. many justices have not indicated whether have religious views.

michael kirby first openly gay justice in history of court; replacement, virginia bell, first lesbian, has been active campaigner gay , lesbian rights , 1 of participants in first sydney gay , lesbian mardi gras in 1978.

almost every single judge on high court has taken silk queen s counsel (qc), king s counsel (kc) or senior counsel (sc) before appointment. exceptions are: justice sir hayden starke (although refused take silk), justices sir edward mctiernan, sir william webb, sir cyril walsh, michael kirby, robert french , james edelman.

from retirement of ian callinan in 2007 until appointment of stephen gageler in 2012, every justice of high court had prior judicial experience (serving on state supreme courts or federal court of australia) time in history. although 13 justices of court had served in state, colonial or federal parliaments, no parliamentarian has been appointed court since lionel murphy s appointment in 1975.

judge s associates

the chief justice , each of justices engage associates assist them in exercise of judicial functions. @ present, members of high court engage 2 associates one-year terms. in addition, chief justice assisted employee of library legal research officer. role of associate broadly equivalent of law clerk of supreme court of united states. depending on judge, associate s responsibilities typically include legal research, assistance in preparation oral arguments, tipping in court during oral argument, editing judgments , assisting extrajudicial functions, such speechwriting. associates have graduated first class honours, @ or near top of class, leading law school. associates typically have research experience (and experience working law firm or university or court). accordingly, competition associate positions high hundreds of applications being received annually. not uncommon associates have won rhodes scholarships or fulbright scholarships.

sir keith aickin , justice stephen gageler both served associates @ high court of australia sir owen dixon , sir anthony mason respectively.