RIP Lord Cooke of Thorndon
August 31st, 2006 at 8:26 am by David FarrarSomewhat shocked to read that Lord Cooke died last night. I wasn’t aware he (presumably) had cancer.
He was one of NZ’s most dominant legal personalities. A worthy member of the Order of New Zealand. His Wikipedia profile has some details on him.
August 31st, 2006 at 9:13 am
Condolences to his family. I’m sure he was a lovely fellow. But let it be remembered, there is probably no man who has done more harm to New Zealand, except perhaps for Geoffrey Palmer. Cooke was a one man legislator whose unsustainable views on the Treaty made his exit from the bench to the Privy Council the only practical option for removing him from the domestic legal scene.
Vote:August 31st, 2006 at 9:39 am
Sorry to hear of his passing. However, Lord Cooke was the definition of a “judicial activist”. He made some appalling decisions and we are still stuck with his 1987 precedent re the “principles of the Treaty”. He considered himself above Parliament.
Vote:August 31st, 2006 at 10:07 am
Good to see the caring conservatives showing their well known consideration by having a decent interval on hearing of a death before attacking the deceased.
As always you are an example to us all.
Vote:August 31st, 2006 at 10:25 am
Sonic, a bit of honesty is far preferable to sitting back and saying he was the greatest human being ever. Too many people give off that vibe whenever somebody dies.
Vote:Condolences to his family. Whether we like him or not, he made quite the impact.
August 31st, 2006 at 11:20 am
I never shrank from criticising Cooke as vocally as I was able when he was alive Sonic. It’s just a shame so few of the generally wet blanket types in Wellington mustered the courage to do so as well.
Vote:August 31st, 2006 at 11:26 am
It’s usual to have a decent interval guys, at least try and wait until he is buried.
Vote:August 31st, 2006 at 11:34 am
“a one man legislator whose unsustainable views on the Treaty made his exit from the bench to the Privy Council the only practical option for removing him from the domestic legal scene.”
The Privy Council was a part of the domestic legal scene until 2004, and on several occasions made rulings on the principles of the Treaty, including defining “taonga” to include language. Hardly a shameful exile or a way to limit someone’s power.
Vote:August 31st, 2006 at 12:32 pm
The Privy Council hated his judgments and criticized them so often that you could count time by them. His problem was that he treated every case as if it were another “Brown versus Board of Education”, a terrible injustice to be remedied forthwith.
Cooke’s promotion to the Privy Council looked to me more like as a kick upstairs in an effort to neuter his influence as being one of many PCs commenting on a small number of cases was far less damaging then him being the leading light of NZ jurisprudence commenting on a larger number of cases in his capacity as President of the Court of Appeals.
By far the strangest event surrounding him was that Lord Hutton quoted him on defamation law in the case of “Times vs Reynolds” in his report on Dr Kelly’s Death. Because the effect of that quote was detrimental to the BBC, Cooke was being lambasted by ignorant partisans as a conservative judge.
Vote:August 31st, 2006 at 3:49 pm
Mark: The principles of the Treaty of Waitangi were inserted into the State Owned Enterprises Act 1987 almost as an afterthought and with zero guidance as to what the principles were. It even assumed “prinicples” existed. It was thereafter left to the courts to decide what those principles were and how to apply them. It is not Lord Cooke that is to blame for this, it is Geoffrey Palmer.
Vote:August 31st, 2006 at 4:59 pm
Chris: Exactly
Vote:August 31st, 2006 at 5:06 pm
Peter: Wasn’t Cooke made a PCer in 1977, and sat on a number of JCPC cases before leaving the Court of Appeal Presidency in 1996? I understand that it wasn’t until then that he was able to sit on domestic (i.e. UK) cases as a Law Lord.
Vote:August 31st, 2006 at 9:05 pm
Nick, Peter: I suspect you’ll find that Sir Robin moving to the Privy Council, and the Lords, allowed him what he (in one of his last judgments) referred to as a judicial “indian summer”. The reason for this is that the mandatory retirement ages for judges in the UK are more enlightened than ours, meaning that he was able to sit on cases in those forums after he was prohibited by statute from doing so in New Zealand. (The UK mandatory judicial retirement age is five years higher than in New Zealand).
So, contrary to your assertions, his rise to the peerage was genuinely a tribute to his skills and experience as a jurist. There was no need to “kick him upstairs”, as he was obligated by statute to retire anyway.
If you feel the need to deride someone’s successes so close to their death in a public forum, it would pay to check your facts.
Vote:September 1st, 2006 at 11:15 am
I think the MSM coverage of Lord Cooke’s death has been absolutely pathetic. Even if he was not a ‘household name’ he was one of the most influential New Zealanders of the last 50 years.
Compare the coverage of Lord Cooke’s death with that of the Maori Queen. I think the comparison is a fair one even if the view of ther influence is looked at solely from the perspective of Maori.
On a side note- does anyone know exactly how many NZers have been granted a peerage?
Vote:The only other one that springs immediately to mind is Lord Rutherford of Nelson.
September 1st, 2006 at 9:03 pm
Ngahere Gold:
“Baron Freyberg of Wellington, New Zealand and Munstead, Surrey”
Born in UK, but most of his life and services to this country were in/for New Zealand.
Vote:September 4th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
I was astounded to hear Chief Justice Sian Elias waffle on about Cooke not supporting NZ cases going to the Privy Council. So strong was the conviction of his views that he allowed himself to sit and deliberate on cases when he took his seat in the Lords. Baubnles of anothewr office perhaps.
Vote:September 4th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
I was astounded to hear Chief Justice Sian Elias waffle on about Cooke not supporting NZ cases going to the Privy Council. So strong was the conviction of his views that he allowed himself to sit and deliberate on cases when he took his seat in the Lords. Baubnles of anothewr office perhaps.
Vote:September 4th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
I was astounded to hear Sian Elias waffle on about Cooke not supporting NZ cases going to the Privy Council. So strong was the conviction of his views that he allowed himself to sit and deliberate on cases when he took his seat in the Lords. Baubnles of anothewr office perhaps.
Vote: