RIP Sir Kenneth Keith
Sir Kenneth Keith has died aged 88. He was one of the great NZ jurists – the NZ Supreme Court, the International Court of Justice, the Privy Council.
I got to know him slightly when I worked at the NZ Red Cross in the early 90s. He was the international humanitarian law advisor to NZ Red Cross, and even back then he was held in huge regard internationally. He was so generous with his time, and very approachable. Some of his legal involvement was:
- member of the New Zealand legal team in the Nuclear Test cases before the International Court of Justice
- leader of the New Zealand delegation on the additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions
- member of the Settlement of Investment Disputes
- president of the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission
- An architect of architects the Official Information Act 1982, the Constitution Act 1986 and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990
- member of the Royal Commission on the Electoral System
- Judge of the New Zealand Court of Appeal
- Judge of the Supreme Court of NZ
- Final appellate judge for Samoa, Cooks, Niue and Fiji
- member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
- member of the International Court of Justice
A truly remarkable career.