Frank Kitto
Justice of the High Court of Australia | |
---|---|
In office 10 May 1950 – 1 August 1970 | |
Nominated by | Robert Menzies |
Preceded by | Sir George Rich |
Succeeded by | Sir Harry Gibbs |
Personal details | |
Born | 30 July 1903 Armidale, New South Wales , Australia |
Sir Frank Walters Kitto,
Early life and education
Kitto was born in
Career
From 1921 to 1927, Kitto worked for the
As a lawyer, Kitto often argued both alongside and against Garfield Barwick, then a King's Counsel and later Chief Justice of Australia. In the banks nationalisation case, Kitto and Barwick argued for the banks, in another case which went to the Privy Council. Kitto's work in defeating the Chifley government's attempt to nationalise the banks was rewarded by the opposing Menzies government two years later by an appointment to the bench of the High Court on 10 May 1950. Kitto was the first person appointed to the Court who had been born after Federation. At his swearing in, Kitto remarked:
"[Australia's] future will be influenced in no small degree by the quality of the work we do in upholding the rule of law and proving its worth and effectiveness in the development of a nation in whose righteousness must lie its greatness."[3]
Kitto had a complicated writing style, but his judgments were generally highly regarded for being well founded in legal principle. William Andrew Noye Wells, a former Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia, suggests Kitto's High Court decisions are illustrative of literature within the law at its best, both in content and expression.[4] Michael Kirby considers that Kitto's judgment in the Communist Party case, delivered less than a year after his appointment to the court, remains one of his finest, primarily because of his unwavering support for the rule of law and for the Constitution.[3]
In 1963, Kitto was appointed to the Privy Council. Kitto resigned from the High Court on 1 August 1970, and was subsequently appointed Chancellor of the
Personal life
In 1927, Kitto married Eleanor May Howard and subsequently they had four daughters, Kathleen, Margaret, Lindsay (Lyn) and Elizabeth (Liz).
He died in 1994, in
The Kitto family is of Cornish origin; the meaning of the name is "Christopher's (Kit's) children".[7]
Honours
In 1983, Kitto was made a
An annual lecture at the University of New England is named after Kitto.[6][10]
References
- ^ a b Wheeler, Fiona; Wimborne, Brian, "Kitto, Sir Frank Walters (1903–1994)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 31 May 2023
- ^ "University". Sydney Morning Herald. 17 April 1924. p. 6. Retrieved 31 May 2023 – via Trove.
- ^ a b c Kirby, Michael (22 May 1998). "Kitto and the High Court of Australia - Change and Continuity". High Court of Australia.
- ISBN 9780409493498.
- ^ "The Right Honourable Sir Frank Walters Kitto KBE" (PDF). University of Sydney.
- ^ a b Picker, Caitlin (10 December 2018). "The History behind the Kitto and Kirby Lectures". School of Law News, University of New England. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
- ^ White, G. Pawley, A Handbook of Cornish Surnames. Camborne, 1972
- ^ It's an Honour - Companion of the Order of Australia
- ^ It's an Honour - Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- ^ "Sir Frank Kitto Lectures". www.une.edu.au. University of New England. Retrieved 31 May 2023.