Charles Kennedy Comans,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, OBE, QC (born 21 October 1914) was a lawyer, lecturer, the former First Parliamentary Counsel of the Commonwealth from 1972 - 1977. Comans died in Canberra on 12 September 2012, aged 97.

Early life and education

Comans was born in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia, the only son of Michael and Kate Comans. He was educated at Christian Brothers’ College, Victoria Parade, Melbourne. There, he won a scholarship to attend St Kevin’s High School. He went on to study

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

and at 21, he was then the youngest person to achieve a master of laws from the university.

Career

Comans was admitted to the

Victorian Bar The Victorian Bar is the bar association of the Australian State of Victoria. The current President of the Bar is Roisin Annesley KC. Its members are barristers registered to practice in Victoria. On 30 June 2020, there were 2,179 counsels ...

in 1936, and first worked in the Taxation Office in Canberra, before becoming a legal officer in the Attorney-General’s Department, a post he held between 1938 and 1948. He went on to become the First Assistant Parliamentary Draftsman in 1949, Second Parliamentary Counsel in 1970 and First Parliamentary Counsel in 1972, a post he held for five years until 1977. His career spanned the offices of 14 Prime Ministers and 16 Attorneys-General of the Commonwealth. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1965, the Commonwealth Queen's Counsel in 1974, and

in 1977. The Charles Comans meeting room in the Office of Parliamentary Counsel in Canberra was named in his honour.Michael Kirby, 'Comans, Charles Kennedy (1914–2012)', Obituaries Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/comans-charles-kennedy-15946/text27175, accessed 17 March 2013. Some of Comans' more notable work was the drafting of the Double Dissolution Proclamation read for then Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, on the steps of Old Parliament House on 11 November 1975. This had been drafted on instruction by the Governor-General on conditions of secrecy from Prime Minister Whitlam and dissolved the then Whitlam government and appointed Malcolm Fraser as a caretaker Prime Minister. Comans work also included the Marriage Act in 1961, the Trade Practice Act in 1974 the Family Law Act in 1975 and the Darwin Reconstruction Bill after the devastating cyclone Tracey that hit Darwin in late 1974. Comans has a room named for him at the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and hi
history has been recorded
at the National Library

Personal life

Comans married Nancy Button in August 1944; they had three sons - Michael (now deceased), Peter (now deceased) and Philip - and one daughter - Leigh. Apart from his roles in the Commonwealth offices, he was a lecturer at Canberra University College between 1945 and 1948.

References

External links

*Obituary o
Comans, Charles Kennedy
from

the Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

*Eulogy o
Comans, Charles Kennedy
by Philip Comans, his son {{DEFAULTSORT:Comans, Charles Kennedy Lawyers from Melbourne 1914 births 2012 deaths Australian King's Counsel