Sir Graham Davies Speight (21 July 1921 – 17 July 2008) was a New Zealand High Court

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

. He served as the acting Queen's Representative in the

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in 1984. Speight was born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

on 21 July 1921. He was educated at Newmarket School,

Auckland Grammar School Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

and

Auckland University College , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, where he earned his

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in 1942. After graduating, he served in the

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from 1942 until 1946. He married Elizabeth Muriel Booth in 1947, and the couple went on to have two children. Speight served as the

Crown solicitor A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

in Auckland from 1959 until 1966, when was appointed a High Court judge. He later served as the Chief Justice of the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

and the President of the Court of Appeal of Fiji from 1982 until 1988. In 1976 the Auckland Star quoted Justice Graham Speight as saying, in relation to the immigration of Pacific Islanders to New Zealand, ‘one must have the gravest anxiety as to the placement of these unsophisticated people in an environment which they are totally unfitted to cope with.’ Which has now come to be seen as perpetuating anti-Pacific Islander racism and xenophobia during the period of the dawn raids. In the 1983 New Year Honours, Speight was appointed a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

, in recognition of his service as a High Court judge. Speight died in Auckland on 17 July 2008, at the age of 86. He was survived by his wife, son and five grandchildren.

References

1921 births 2008 deaths Queen's Representatives in the Cook Islands Chief justices of the Cook Islands New Zealand judges on the courts of the Cook Islands New Zealand judges on the courts of Fiji People educated at Auckland Grammar School High Court of New Zealand judges New Zealand Knights Bachelor Lawyers from Auckland University of Auckland alumni New Zealand Army personnel New Zealand military personnel of World War II Chancellors of the University of Auckland {{NewZealand-law-bio-stub