| Honorific-Prefix: | The Honourable | ||||||||
| Robert French | |||||||||
| Order: | Chief Justice of Australia | ||||||||
| Term Start: | 1 September 2008 | ||||||||
| Term End: | 29 January 2017 | ||||||||
| Appointer: | Michael Jeffery | ||||||||
| Nominator: | Kevin Rudd | ||||||||
| Predecessor: | Murray Gleeson | ||||||||
| Successor: | Susan Kiefel | ||||||||
| Office2: | Judge of the Federal Court of Australia | ||||||||
| Term Start2: | 25 November 1986 | ||||||||
| Term End2: | 1 September 2008 | ||||||||
| Appointer2: | Ninian Stephen | ||||||||
| Nominator2: | Bob Hawke | ||||||||
| Office3: | Additional Judge Supreme Court of the ACT | ||||||||
| Term Start3: | November 2004 | ||||||||
| Term End3: | 1 September 2008 | ||||||||
| Appointer3: | Michael Jeffery | ||||||||
| Nominator3: | Kevin Rudd | ||||||||
| Predecessor3: | Murray Gleeson | ||||||||
| Successor3: | Susan Kiefel | ||||||||
| Office4: | Judge of the Supreme Court of Fiji | ||||||||
| Term Start4: | 2003 | ||||||||
| Term End4: | 2004 | ||||||||
| Office5: | Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court | ||||||||
| Term Start5: | 5 January 2018 | ||||||||
| Appointer5: | Halimah Yacob | ||||||||
| Nominator5: | Lee Hsien Loong | ||||||||
| Office6: | Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong | ||||||||
| Term Start6: | 31 May 2017 | ||||||||
| Appointer6: | Leung Chun-ying | ||||||||
| Office7: | 15th Chancellor of University of Western Australia | ||||||||
| Term Start7: | December 2017 | ||||||||
| Appointer7: | Kerry Sanderson | ||||||||
| Nominator7: | Mark McGowan | ||||||||
| Predecessor7: | Michael Chaney AO | ||||||||
| Office8: | 1st Chancellor of Edith Cowan University | ||||||||
| Term Start8: | 1991 | ||||||||
| Term End8: | 1997 | ||||||||
| Appointer8: | Francis Burt | ||||||||
| Nominator8: | Carmen Lawrence | ||||||||
| Predecessor8: | University created | ||||||||
| Birth Place: | Perth, Western Australia | ||||||||
| Spouse: | Valerie J. French | ||||||||
| Module: |
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Robert Shenton French (born 1947) is an Australian lawyer. He is a former judge of the Federal Court of Australia and was Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia from 2008 to 2017. In 2017 French became an overseas non-permanent judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, and was appointed chancellor of the University of Western Australia.
French was born in Perth, Western Australia,[1] in 1947.
He was educated at St. Louis School (now John XXIII College) in Perth.[2] In 1964 he was one of two students from Western Australia to attend the International Science School, then known as the Nuclear Research Foundation Summer Science School, at the University of Sydney.
French attended the University of Western Australia (UWA) in Perth, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in physics in 1968.[3] [4] [1] He then continued with further study at UWA, earning a Bachelor of Laws in 1971. He said later that he had enrolled in law "with no particular idea of being a lawyer", but after realising that he "was not going to be a great theoretical physicist".[5] He was president of the university's Liberal Club at UWA.[6]
In 1972, French was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in Western Australia.[8] [1] He worked on important cases, such as the High Court case, Yager v The Queen,[9] which focused on complex matters of law and botanical science.[10]
The Hawke government appointed French to the Federal Court in 1986, at the age of 39.[11]
During the Tampa Affair in 2001, French was part of the Full Court of the Federal Court that reversed the order of habeas corpus that had been earlier granted by a single judge.[12] On 30 July 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that French would succeed Murray Gleeson as Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia.[13] He was sworn in on 1 September 2008.[14] He became the first chief justice from Western Australia, and the third justice overall (after Sir Ronald Wilson and John Toohey).[1] He was the first Chief Justice of the High Court not to have taken silk at appointment.
On 18 January 2017, French was appointed a non-permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. He was given the Chinese name "范禮全" by the Hong Kong Judiciary.[15] [16] He remains in the position, along with other Australian judges Patrick Keane, William Gummow, and James Allsop, after British judge Jonathan Sumption resigned, criticising the judiciary of Hong Kong after 14 prominent democratic activists were convicted for subversion.[17]
French retired as Chief Justice on 29 January 2017. He was succeeded by Susan Kiefel.[18]
He has served as an international commercial court judge on the DIFC Courts in Dubai.[19]
French held a number of other positions during his time as Chief Justice, notably serving as chancellor of Edith Cowan University (1991–1997), chairman of the National Native Title Tribunal (1994–1998), and on the Supreme Court of Fiji (2003–2008).[1] After his retirement from the position, on 20 June 2017, UWA announced French's appointment as its 15th chancellor. He succeeded Michael Chaney AO as chancellor in November 2017.[20] [21] He is due to end his term at the end of 2024.[22]
He was part-time Commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission (2006–2008), Additional Judge of the Supreme Court of the ACT (2004–2008), council member of the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration (1992–1998), chancellor of Edith Cowan University (1991–1997), member of the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia (1986), chairman of the Town Planning Appeals Tribunal of Western Australia (1986), associate member of the Australian Trade Practices Commission (1983–1986), member of the Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia (1983–1986), member of the Barristers' Board of Western Australia (1979–1986), and chairman of the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (1973–1975).
Although once the President of the Liberal Club of the University of Western Australia, French's views are described as being closer to socially progressive,[23] small–l liberal,[24] and moderate.[25]
French said in a WA Law Society speech in May 2008:
"It is unacceptable in contemporary Australia that the legal head of the Australian state... can never be chosen by the people or their representatives, cannot be other than a member of the Anglican Church, can never be other than British and can never be an indigenous person."
Justice French is known for working for the rights of Indigenous Australians: in the early 1970s, he helped found the WA Aboriginal Legal Service. He was also the first president of the National Native Title Tribunal, from 1994 to 1998.[21]
At his swearing-in ceremony as Chief Justice, French specifically referred to the long history of Indigenous Australia:
Recognition of their presence is no mere platitude. The history of Australia's Indigenous people dwarfs, in its temporal sweep, the history that gave rise to the Constitution under which this court was created. Our awareness and recognition of that history is becoming, if it has not already become, part of our national identity.[26]
However, the "French Testing" incident has coloured the legacy of French on Indigenous issues. French admitted his "error" when he explained the incident:[27]
As I soon discovered, the responsibilities of an administrator trying to develop procedures to implement a legal process are very different from those of a judge required to decide a particular case about whether an administrator's decision is legally flawed. The Tribunal was judicially reviewed on many occasions. The high point or low point, depending on your point of view, occurred after I had refused registration of a claim by the Waanyi people over land the subject of the proposed Century Zinc mine in North Queensland. I refused registration on the basis that the application could not succeed because of the extinguishing effects of historical pastoral leases in the area. I took the view that observations about the extinguishing effects of leases made by Brennan J in Mabo put the matter beyond doubt. My refusal to register the claim was an administrative act in the application of a test designed to screen out hopeless claims. The decision was overturned by the High Court in North Ganalanja[2] with such moral enthusiasm that the Court gave judgment immediately and reasons later. In so doing, it described my approach as "tantamount to a proleptic exercise of federal jurisdiction". To add insult to injury, members of the Waanyi people were sitting in Court wearing T-shirts with the message "Ban French Testing". I have no doubt, in retrospect, that I was properly found to have been in error. The considerations influencing my approach were those of the administrator, the urgent need to get the process moving and to establish its credibility in the face of ongoing attacks. There was a legal bottleneck on the issue of the relationship between pastoral leases and native title which was not resolved until the decision in Wik. Many ill-prepared applications were being lodged and upon registration were entitled to procedural rights affecting third party interests particularly in relation to mining and the release of Crown land for development around regional centres. I learned a useful lesson from all of this and that is that the worldview and culture of the administrator which I had adopted is very different from that of the courts.
In an address at the National Press Club on 5 October 2023, French spoke in favour of establishing the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, ahead of the referendum on the matter. He criticised the No campaign's slogan, "if you don't know, vote no", as well as some of their main arguments against the Voice, including their argument that it posed a legal risk, dismissing this as "misguided".[28] [29] [30] French also observed that the Voice would instead “provide a new impetus and new mechanism to address the generational effects of the collision of our histories” and will do so by providing an opportunity for “coordinated, national advice from a First People’s body”.[31]
French married Valerie J. French, who completed her LL.B. at UWA in 1971 and has served as the president of the Children's Court of Western Australia.[4] [35]
French is a fan of the Fremantle Dockers AFL team,[36] and likes science fiction.[37]