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Chief Justice, 1 September 2008 to 29 January 2017
Australia’s 12th High Court Chief Justice, Robert French (b. 1947) was the first from Western Australia and only the fifth appointed as a ‘outsider’ to the Court.1 A leading jurist and legal traditionalist,2 French was hailed as ‘a fierce defender of the court’s independence, and its important place in the governance of this nation’.3
Born in Perth, French studied at the University of WA, graduating with degrees in science (1968) and law (1972). Admitted to practise law in 1972, he was pivotal in establishing WA’s Aboriginal Legal Service and became its founding chairman.4 His ‘penchant for using popular culture to make legal points’ included referencing The Simpsons (declaratory relief),5 Judge Dredd (separation of powers),6 and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (native title).7 In 1976 he married Valerie Lumsden – WA’s first female practising barrister – and they had three sons.8
French was called to the Bar in 1983, commencing a career that ‘could only be described as short but spectacular’.9 In 1986, he was appointed to the Federal Court, where he served for 22 years and was ‘widely regarded as its finest judge’.10 He held positions on the Australian Competition Tribunal and the Australian Law Reform Commission, and served as president of the National Native Title Tribunal (1994–98) and the Australian Association of Constitutional Law (2001-05).11
In 2008, he became Chief Justice of the High Court – the first without having previously taken silk. French led the Court during a transitional period, notable for the appointments of three women to the Bench: Virginia Bell, Susan Crennan, and current Chief Justice Susan Kiefel.12 His Court was characterised by ‘unusually high degrees of consistency and agreement’, with French making joint or concurring judgements a priority.13 He later observed, ‘it is plainly useful where the Court has a majority that the majority can speak with at least one voice’.14
As Chief Justice, French heard major constitutional cases that constrained Commonwealth powers to contract and spend public money, reversing ‘almost 100 years of previously held assumptions about the scope of the Commonwealth’s appropriation and executive powers’.15 Such federal considerations were later regarded as ‘a fair reflection of his leadership, at least in the field of constitutional law’.16 Other significant cases he oversaw involved franchise17 and migration issues, including challenges to executive detention18 and off-shore processing.19
French retired from the High Court in 2017 and has since served on the Singapore International Commercial Court, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, and the Court of Appeal of the Dubai International Financial Centre.20 He holds honorary positions at several universities, including the University of WA, where in 2017 he was elected Chancellor.21 French was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001, and in 2010 was made an AC and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.22
Lewis Miller
Lewis Miller (b.1959) studied painting at the Victorian College of the Arts in the late 1970s where he later undertook postgraduate studies. A recipient of various prestigious awards throughout his career, Miller has been a finalist in the Archibald Prize 16 times and a finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize on three occasions. In 1981 he was awarded the Hugh Ramsay Portrait Prize, and in 1998 won the Archibald Prize with his portrait of Allan Mitelman. In 2003, Miller was appointed as an official war artist in the Second Gulf War, spending three weeks in the Middle East where he recorded the service of all three branches of the Australian Defence Force. Miller has been commissioned to paint portraits of many notable figures, including explorer Sir Edmund Hillary and Sidney Baillieu Myer. His works are represented in numerous private collections and in major public collections throughout Australia.22
Robert Shenton French
by Lewis Miller
2009
Oil on canvas
122 x 91.7 cm
Historic Memorials Collection, High Court of Australia
References
1. A Gauja, ‘High Court Review 2007–08: a changing Bench, but business as usual?’, Australian Journal of Political Science, vol. 44, no. 4, December 2009, pp. 697–712.
2. G Williams quoted in Merritt, ‘New chief justice a straightforward choice’, The Australian, 31 July 2008, p. 1;K Rudd, ‘Joint Press Conference with Attorney General, Robert McClelland, Prime Ministers Courtyard, Parliament House’, Transcript, Canberra, 30 July 2008, accessed 26 October 2021.
3. Stuart Clark, Law Council of Australia, quoted in ‘Outgoing High Court Chief Justice Robert French a ‘fierce defender of the rule of law’, ABC News, 5 December 2016, accessed 26 October 2021.
4. ‘Chief Justice French’, Bar News, Summer 2008/2009, accessed 22 September 2021.
5. R French, ‘Declarations - Homer Simpson’s remedy - Is there anything they cannot do?’, speech, University of Western Australia, 30 November 2007, accessed 2 November 2021.
6. ‘Outgoing High Court Chief Justice Robert French a ‘fierce defender’ of the rule of law’, ABC News, 5 December 2016, accessed 22 September 2021.
7. R French, ‘A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Native Title Act’, Monash University Law Review, 25:2, 1999, 375–420.
8. L Halonkin, ‘French, Valerie’, The Encyclopedia of Women and Leadership in Twentieth Century Australia, 24 May 2010, accessed 22 September 2021.
9. Bar News, op. cit.
10. M Pelly, ‘Robert French new Chief Justice of the High Court’, The Australian, 30 July 2008, accessed 17 May 2021.
11. ‘Robert Shenton French AC’, High Court of Australia, accessed 28 September 2021.
12. H Hobbs, A Lynch, and G Williams, ‘The High Court Under Chief Justice Robert French’, 91 Australian Law Journal 53, 2017, p. 56, accessed 29 September 2021.
13. K Walsh, ‘The Legacy of the Chief Justice Robert French’s High Court’, Australian Financial Review, December 14 2016, accessed 22 September 2021.
14. Ibid.
15. A Gauja and K Gelber, ‘The French Court’, pp. 311–26, in R Dixon and G Williams, eds, The High Court, the Constitution, and Australian Politics, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, 2015, p. 314; ‘Pape v Commission of Taxation’ [2009], High Court of Australia, HCA 23; 238 CLR 1; ‘Williams v Commonwealth’ [2012], High Court of Australia, HCA 23, 248 CLR 165; ‘Williams v Commonwealth of Australia’ [2014], High Court of Australia, HCA 23. Websites accessed 29 September 2021.
16. Hobbs et al., op. cit.
17. ‘Rowe v Electoral Commissioner’ [2010], High Court of Australia, HCA 46; 251 CLR 1, accessed 29 September 2021.
18. ‘Plaintiff M47/2012 v Director General of Security’ [2012], High Court of Australia, HCA 46; 251 CLR 1, accessed 29 September 2021.
19. ‘Plaintiff M70/2011 v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship’ [2011], High Court of Australia, HCA 32, 244 CLR 144, accessed 29 September 2021.
20. ‘The Hon Robert Shenton French AO’, AUSPUBLAW, accessed 28 September 2021.
21. ‘The Hon. Robert Shenton French AC: Chancellor of The University of Western Australia’, The University of Western Australia, accessed 22 September 2021.
22. ‘Lewis Miller’, Australian War Memorial; ‘Lewis Miller’, Australian Galleries; ‘Lewis Miller’, National Portrait Gallery; ‘Miller, Lewis’, A McCulloch, S McCulloch and E McCulloch Childs, eds, The New McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Aus Art Editions in association with The Miegunyah Press, 2006, p. 683. Websites accessed 11 June 2021.
23. ‘Lewis Miller’, Australian War Memorial; ‘Lewis Miller’, Australian Galleries; ‘Lewis Miller’, National Portrait Gallery; ‘Miller, Lewis’, A McCulloch, S McCulloch and E McCulloch Childs, eds, The New McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Aus Art Editions in association with The Miegunyah Press, 2006, p. 683. Websites accessed 11 June 2021.