Garfield Barwick

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Sir Garfield Edward John Barwick AK GCMG (22 June 1903 – 14 July 1997) was the Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia.

Barwick was born in Sydney, New South Wales and attended Fort Street High School. His Methodist family was of modest means. A good student, he studied law and was admitted to practice, although on his own later admission he suffered severely in financial terms during the Great Depression. He practised as a barrister in many jurisdictions, achieving considerable recognition. He was briefed in many of Australia's defining constitutional cases (e.g. the Airlines case, the Bank Nationalisation case). He was knighted in 1953.

One famous story of his advocacy involved 13 Malaysians sentenced to death who appealed to the Privy Council. Only 12 retained Barwick, who duly found a technical deficiency in the arrest warrants and secured their freedom. The last, whose counsel was not so thorough, was executed.^{[citation needed]}

Barwick was elected to the House of Representatives as the Liberal member for Parramatta at a by-election on 8 March 1958 and re-elected in the general elections of 1958, 1961 and 1963.

During his period in Parliament he served as Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs. As Attorney-General he introduced Acts amending the Matrimonial Causes Act and the Crimes Act. He established a model for restrictive trade practices legislation. He led the Australian delegation to the General Assembly of the United Nations for its 15th, 17th and 18th sessions.

On 27 April 1964 he was appointed Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia. He was instrumental in the building of the High Court building in Canberra. He was appointed Privy Counsellor in 1964.

He is famous for advising Sir John Kerr on the constitutional legality of the possible dismissal of a Prime Minister who could not obtain supply. He is often seen as responsible for the dismissal of Gough Whitlam, as it was this advice that Kerr used as a basis for the dismissal of Whitlam's Government, in contravention of Whitlam's explicit instructions not to seek Barwick's advice.

He retired from the bench in 1981.

[edit] Bibliography

A Radical Tory: Garfield Barwick's Reflections and recollections, Federation Press, Sydney, 1995, ISBN 1-86287-236-8.
Barwick, Marr D., 2nd Ed, ISBN 1-74114-720-4