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The High Court of Australia is composed of seven justices: the chief justice of Australia and six other justices. There have been 57 justices who have served as justices of the High Court since its formation under the Judiciary Act 1903. Under Section 71 of the Australian Constitution, the judicial power of the Commonwealth of Australia is vested in the court, and it has been the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy since the passing of the Australia Act 1986.

In a May 2017 speech, Justice Virginia Bell observed that "few Australians outside the law schools are likely to be able to name the Chief Justice, let alone the puisne justices of the High Court".

History

Initially, there were three justices of the High Court – Chief Justice Sir Samuel Griffith, Justice Sir Edmund Barton and Justice Richard Edward O'Connor. The number was expanded in 1906, at the request of the justices, to five, with the appointment of Justices Sir Isaac Isaacs and H. B. Higgins. After O'Connor's death in 1912, an amendment to the Judiciary Act 1903 expanded the bench to seven. For most of 1930, two seats were left vacant due to monetary constraints placed on the court by the Depression. The economic downturn had also led to a reduction in litigation and consequently less work for the court. After Isaacs retired in 1931, his seat was left empty, and in 1933 an amendment to the Judiciary Act officially reduced the number of seats to six. However, this led to some decisions being split three-all. With the appointment of William Webb in 1946, the number of seats returned to seven, and since then the court has had seven justices. As of 2021 there have been 55 justices, 13 of whom have been chief justice.

Appointments to the court were for life until 1977, when a mandatory retirement age of 70 was established, though several post-1977 justices have retired before reaching the age of 70 (William Deane resigned as a justice to be appointed governor-general).

Composition of the High Court

There have been 57 justices of the High Court; fifty have been men and seven women. The first female justice was Mary Gaudron who was a justice from 1987 to 2003. Susan Crennan was a justice from 2005 to 2015, and Virginia Bell from 2009 to 2021. Susan Kiefel was the first woman to be appointed Chief Justice of Australia. She was appointed in 2017 and had been a justice from 2007 to 2017. Of the seven current justices, four are men, including the chief justice, and three are women. Michelle Gordon was appointed in 2015 and Jacqueline Gleeson in 2021, replacing Bell. Jayne Jagot replaced Justice Keane on the court in 2022, giving women a majority on the High Court for a period of just over a year.

Thirteen politicians, serving or former, have been appointed to the High Court of Australia. Nine justices have served in the Parliament of Australia: Edmund Barton, Richard O'Connor, Isaac Isaacs, H. B. Higgins, Edward McTiernan, H. V. Evatt, John Latham, Garfield Barwick, and Lionel Murphy. All but Evatt were appointed after their parliamentary service; Evatt resigned from the bench in order to pursue his federal political career, although he had previously served in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. In addition to the above, four justices served in colonial parliaments: Samuel Griffith, Charles Powers, Albert Piddington and Adrian Knox, although all concluded their political careers more than 10 years prior to their appointments. The most recent justice to serve in state or federal parliament is Lionel Murphy.

The majority of justices have come from the eastern states, particularly New South Wales (29 justices), Victoria (16 justices) and Queensland Queensland (8 justices). It was not until 1979 that a justice was appointed from Western Australia. There has never been a justice from South Australia. Robert Beech-Jones was born in Tasmania but went to university in Canberra and spent most of his career in Sydney.

Most justices had previously served as judges of other Australian courts prior to their appointment to the High Court. Prior to the creation of the Federal Court of Australia in 1976, this was primarily the Supreme Courts of the States. Since 1976, a number of justices of the Federal Court have been appointed to the High Court. A small number of justices served on both a State Supreme Court and the Federal Court before being appointed to the High Court.

List of justices

The current judges are listed in bold on the table below.

#	Image	Name	State	Birth – death	Position	Term began	Term ended	Time in office	PM at app't	Prev. experience	Notes
1		Sir Samuel Griffith	Qld	1845–1920	Chief justice	5 October 1903	17 October 1919	16 years, 12 days	Deakin	Chief justice, Sup Ct of Qld
2		Sir Edmund Barton	NSW	1849–1920	Justice	5 October 1903	7 January 1920	16 years, 94 days	Deakin	None	Former prime minister Died in office
3		Richard O'Connor	NSW	1851–1912	Justice	5 October 1903	18 November 1912	9 years, 44 days	Deakin	None	Died in office
4		Sir Isaac Isaacs	Vic	1855–1948	Justice	12 October 1906	21 January 1931	24 years, 101 days	Deakin	None	Resigned to be appointed governor-general
					Chief justice	2 April 1930	21 January 1931	294 days	Scullin
5		H. B. Higgins	Vic	1851–1929	Justice	13 October 1906	13 January 1929	22 years, 92 days	Deakin	None	Died in office
6		Sir Frank Gavan Duffy	Vic	1852–1936	Justice	11 February 1913	1 October 1935	22 years, 232 days	Fisher	None
					Chief justice	22 January 1931	1 October 1935	4 years, 252 days	Scullin
7		Sir Charles Powers	Qld	1853–1939	Justice	5 March 1913	22 July 1929	16 years, 139 days	Fisher	None
8*		Albert Piddington	NSW	1862–1945	Justice	6 March 1913	5 April 1913	30 days	Fisher	None	Resigned before sitting
9		Sir George Rich	NSW	1863–1956	Justice	5 April 1913	5 May 1950	37 years, 30 days	Fisher	Sup Ct of NSW
10		Sir Adrian Knox	NSW	1863–1932	Chief justice	18 October 1919	31 March 1930	10 years, 164 days	Hughes	None
11		Sir Hayden Starke	Vic	1871–1958	Justice	5 February 1920	31 January 1950	29 years, 360 days	Hughes	None
12		Sir Owen Dixon	Vic	1886–1972	Justice	4 February 1929	13 April 1964	35 years, 69 days	Bruce	None
					Chief justice	18 April 1952	13 April 1964	11 years, 361 days	Menzies
13		H. V. Evatt	NSW	1894–1965	Justice	19 December 1930	2 September 1940	9 years, 258 days	Scullin	None	Resigned to return to politics
14		Sir Edward McTiernan	NSW	1892–1990	Justice	20 December 1930	12 September 1976	45 years, 267 days	Scullin	None
15		Sir John Latham	Vic	1877–1964	Chief justice	11 October 1935	7 April 1952	16 years, 179 days	Lyons	None
16		Sir Dudley Williams	NSW	1889–1963	Justice	15 October 1940	31 July 1958	17 years, 289 days	Menzies	Sup Ct of NSW
17		Sir William Webb	Qld	1887–1972	Justice	16 May 1946	16 May 1958	12 years, 0 days	Chifley	Chief justice, Sup Ct of Qld
18		Sir Wilfred Fullagar	Vic	1892–1961	Justice	8 February 1950	9 July 1961	11 years, 151 days	Menzies	Sup Ct of Vic	Died in office
19		Sir Frank Kitto	NSW	1903–1994	Justice	10 May 1950	1 August 1970	20 years, 83 days	Menzies	None
20		Sir Alan Taylor	NSW	1901–1969	Justice	3 September 1952	3 August 1969	16 years, 334 days	Menzies	Sup Ct of NSW	Died in office
21		Sir Douglas Menzies	Vic	1907–1974	Justice	12 June 1958	29 November 1974	16 years, 170 days	Menzies	None	Died in office
22		Sir Victor Windeyer	NSW	1900–1987	Justice	8 September 1958	29 February 1972	13 years, 174 days	Menzies	None
23		Sir William Owen	NSW	1899–1972	Justice	22 September 1961	31 March 1972	10 years, 191 days	Menzies	Sup Ct of NSW	Died in office
24		Sir Garfield Barwick	NSW	1903–1997	Chief justice	27 April 1964	11 February 1981	16 years, 290 days	Menzies	None
25		Sir Cyril Walsh	NSW	1909–1973	Justice	20 September 1969	29 November 1973	4 years, 70 days	Gorton	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App	Died in office
26		Sir Harry Gibbs	Qld	1917–2005	Justice	4 August 1970	5 February 1987	16 years, 185 days	Gorton	Fed Ct of BK Sup Ct of Qld
					Chief justice	12 February 1981	5 February 1987	5 years, 358 days	Fraser
27		Sir Ninian Stephen	Vic	1923–2017	Justice	1 March 1972	11 May 1982	10 years, 71 days	McMahon	Sup Ct of Vic	Resigned to be appointed governor-general
28		Sir Anthony Mason	NSW	1925–	Justice	7 August 1972	20 April 1995	22 years, 256 days	McMahon	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App
					Chief justice	6 February 1987	20 April 1995	8 years, 73 days	Hawke
29		Sir Kenneth Jacobs	NSW	1917–2015	Justice	8 February 1974	6 April 1979	5 years, 57 days	Whitlam	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App
30		Lionel Murphy	NSW	1922–1986	Justice	10 February 1975	21 October 1986	11 years, 253 days	Whitlam	None	Died in office
31		Sir Keith Aickin	Vic	1916–1982	Justice	20 September 1976	18 June 1982	5 years, 271 days	Fraser	None	Died in office
32		Sir Ronald Wilson	WA	1922–2005	Justice	21 May 1979	13 February 1989	9 years, 268 days	Fraser	None
33		Sir Gerard Brennan	Qld	1928–2022	Justice	12 February 1981	21 May 1998	17 years, 98 days	Fraser	Fed Ct
					Chief justice	21 April 1995	21 May 1998	3 years, 30 days	Keating
34		Sir William Deane	NSW	1931–	Justice	25 June 1982	11 November 1995	13 years, 139 days	Fraser	Fed Ct	Resigned to be appointed governor-general
35		Sir Daryl Dawson	Vic	1933–	Justice	30 July 1982	15 August 1997	15 years, 16 days	Fraser	None
36		John Toohey	WA	1930–2015	Justice	6 February 1987	2 February 1998	10 years, 361 days	Hawke	Fed Ct
37		Mary Gaudron	NSW	1943–	Justice	6 February 1987	31 January 2003	15 years, 359 days	Hawke	None
38		Michael McHugh	NSW	1935–	Justice	14 February 1989	31 October 2005	16 years, 259 days	Hawke	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App
39		William Gummow	NSW	1942–	Justice	21 April 1995	8 October 2012	17 years, 170 days	Keating	Fed Ct
40		Michael Kirby	NSW	1939–	Justice	6 February 1996	2 February 2009	12 years, 362 days	Keating	Sup Ct of NSW Pres, NSW Ct of App
41		Kenneth Hayne	Vic	1945–	Justice	22 September 1997	5 June 2015	17 years, 256 days	Howard	Sup Ct of Vic Vic Ct of App
42		Ian Callinan	Qld	1937–	Justice	3 February 1998	31 August 2007	9 years, 209 days	Howard	None
43		Murray Gleeson	NSW	1938–	Chief justice	22 May 1998	29 August 2008	10 years, 99 days	Howard	Chief justice, Sup Ct of NSW
44		Dyson Heydon	NSW	1943–	Justice	1 February 2003	28 February 2013	10 years, 27 days	Howard	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App
45		Susan Crennan	Vic	1945–	Justice	1 November 2005	2 February 2015	9 years, 93 days	Howard	Fed Ct
46		Susan Kiefel	Qld	1954–	Justice	4 September 2007	5 November 2023	16 years, 62 days	Howard	Sup Ct of Qld Fed Ct
					Chief justice	30 January 2017	5 November 2023	6 years, 279 days	Turnbull
47		Robert French	WA	1947–	Chief justice	8 September 2008	29 January 2017	8 years, 143 days	Rudd	Fed Ct
48		Virginia Bell	NSW	1951–	Justice	3 February 2009	28 February 2021	12 years, 25 days	Rudd	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App
49		Stephen Gageler	NSW	1958–	Justice	9 October 2012	Incumbent	12 years, 71 days	Gillard	None
					Chief justice	6 November 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 43 days	Albanese
50		Patrick Keane	Qld	1952–	Justice	1 March 2013	17 October 2022	9 years, 230 days	Gillard	Sup Ct of Qld Fed Ct
51		Geoffrey Nettle	Vic	1950–	Justice	3 February 2015	30 November 2020	5 years, 301 days	Abbott	Sup Ct of Vic
52		Michelle Gordon	Vic	1964–	Justice	9 June 2015	Incumbent	9 years, 193 days	Abbott	Fed Ct
53		James Edelman	WA	1974–	Justice	30 January 2017	Incumbent	7 years, 324 days	Turnbull	Fed Ct Sup Ct of WA
54		Simon Steward	Vic	1969–	Justice	1 December 2020	Incumbent	4 years, 18 days	Morrison	Fed Ct
55		Jacqueline Gleeson	NSW	1966–	Justice	1 March 2021	Incumbent	3 years, 293 days	Morrison	Fed Ct
56		Jayne Jagot	NSW	1964/65–	Justice	17 October 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 63 days	Albanese	Fed Ct NSW LEC
57		Robert Beech-Jones	NSW	c.1964	Justice	6 November 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 43 days	Albanese	Sup Ct of NSW

1. ^ Terms as puisne justice and chief justice combined
2. Albert Piddington resigned from the High Court before being sworn in. He never sat on the High Court bench.
3. ^ Justices to whom mandatory retirement (age 70) applied/applies; appointments since 1977

Current justices

• v
• t
• e

Seats of the High Court

This following chart illustrates the composition of the High Court. It indicates the seven seats of the court, and who has occupied each seat at different points in the court's existence. The red portions represent the future part of a judge's term and show the date at which they are bound to retire from the court (although they may choose to retire before that date). The blue portions of a judge's term show a period in which that judge was chief justice.

See also

• High Court of Australia
• List of law schools attended by Australian High Court justices
• List of chief justices of Australia by time in office
• List of jurists

References

1. Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (Cth) s 71
2. Bell, Virginia (29 May 2017). "Examining the Judge: Launch of Issue 40(2) UNSW Law Journal" (PDF). High Court of Australia. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
3. "History of the High Court". High Court. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
4. Dixon, R; Williams, G, eds. (2015). The High Court, the Constitution and Australian Politics. Cambridge University Press. pp. 78–80, 118–119, 141–143, 160, 161. ISBN 9781107043664. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
5. "Callinan retires from High Court", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 31 August 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2007.
6. ^ "Chief Justice honoured at retirement ceremony". ABC News. 29 August 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
7. "Michael Kirby leaves High Court bench with 'faith' in law intact". The Australian. 2 February 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
8. "Solicitor-General Gagelar appointed to High Court". ABC News. 21 August 2012. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
9. Pelly, Michael (13 October 2022). "Keane laments exit after 'wonderful' innings on High Court". Australian Financial Review. Nine Entertainment Company. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
10. Morrison, Scott (28 October 2020). "Press Conference - Australian Parliament House, ACT". Prime Minister of Australia. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
11. "Federal Court of Australia". Australian Government Directory. Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
12. "Federal Court of Australia | Directory". Commonwealth of Australia. 17 October 2022. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
13. Bell, Andrew (19 October 2023). "FAREWELL CEREMONIAL SITTING FOR THE HON. JUSTICE ROBERT BEECH-JONES, CHIEF JUDGE AT COMMON LAW" (PDF). Supreme Court of New South Wales. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 11 April 2024.

External links

• Official website

• Justices of the High Court of Australia
• Lists of judges of Australian superior courts
• Lists of office-holders in Australia
• Lists of Australian judges
• Lists of supreme court justices