Sir Peter Blanchard (born 2 August 1942) is a former judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand.

Biography

Blanchard was born in the

Auckland 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 ...

suburb of

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

on 2 August 1942, the son of Cyril and Zora Blanchard. His father served as a flying officer with the Royal New Zealand Air Force during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and died during air operations over Germany on 26 May 1943. In 1968, Blanchard received a Master of Laws degree from the

University of Auckland Law School , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , image = , established = 1883 , type = Public , endowment = , dean = Penelope Mathew , city = Auckland , state = , country = New Zealand , mascot = , nickname = , affiliations = , ...

. He was then awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and a

Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship The Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship program is a scholarship program which funds students from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom to undertake graduate study at Harvard University. The program is named after the businessman, sold ...

from Harvard Law School where he received a master's degree in law. He specialized in commercial, insolvency and property law as a partner at the

law firms of Grierson Jackson & Partners (1968–1983) and Simpson Grierson (1983 to 1992). In 1992, Blanchard was appointed as a judge of the

High Court of New Zealand The High Court of New Zealand ( mi, Te Kōti Matua o Aotearoa) is the superior court of New Zealand. It has general jurisdiction and responsibility, under the Senior Courts Act 2016, as well as the High Court Rules 2016, for the administration ...

and in 1996, he was appointed as a judge of the

Court of Appeal of New Zealand The Court of Appeal of New Zealand is the principal intermediate appellate court of New Zealand. It is also the final appellate court for a number of matters. In practice, most appeals are resolved at this intermediate appellate level, rather t ...

. In 1998 Blanchard was appointed as a New Zealand member of the Privy Council and in 2004 was appointed to the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Appointment to the Privy Council grants the right to use the style of

The Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific Style (form of address), style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth ...

so Blanchard became The Right Honourable Justice Blanchard. In the

2005 New Year Honours New Year Honours were granted in the United Kingdom and New Zealand at the start of 2005. Among these in the UK were knighthoods awarded to Mike Tomlinson, the educationalist; Derek Wanless, who led a review of the National Health Service; an ...

, Blanchard was appointed a

Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to the judiciary, and in 2009 he accepted redesignation as a

Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

following the reintroduction of titular honours by the government. Blanchard has also served as an expatriate justice of the

Supreme Court of Fiji The Supreme Court of Fiji is one of three courts established by the now-defunct Chapter 9 of the Constitution, the others being the High Court and the Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court is declared to be ''"the final appellate court of the S ...

and the Court of Appeal of Kiribati. On 4 August 2021 he was appointed as an acting judge of the Supreme Court of Samoa for a term of two years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanchard, Peter 1942 births Living people Harvard Law School alumni Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council 20th-century New Zealand judges Supreme Court of New Zealand judges University of Auckland alumni New Zealand judges on the courts of Fiji Supreme Court of Fiji justices Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom New Zealand expatriates in the United States New Zealand judges on the courts of Kiribati New Zealand judges on the courts of Samoa 21st-century New Zealand judges Fulbright alumni