William Young (judge)

Early life, family, and early career

Born in Christchurch on 14 April 1952, Young was educated at Christ's College, University of Canterbury (LLB (Hons) in 1974) and University of Cambridge (PhD in 1979) in the United Kingdom with a thesis Duress and abuse of inequality of bargaining position. In 1979, he and his wife, Susan, were married, and they went on to have three children.

After obtaining his PhD, Young worked in the Christchurch law firm R A Young Hunter & Co, before moving to the independent bar to become a barrister sole in 1988. Young was made a Queen's Counsel in 1991 and acted in several high-profile cases, including the Winebox Inquiry of the 1990s.

Judge

Young was appointed a High Court Judge in Christchurch in 1997, a Court of Appeal Judge when the Supreme Court was created in 2004, and to the position of President of the Court of Appeal in January 2006. Sitting on the Court of Appeal, Young in 2006 in R v Wanhalla described model jury directions in a criminal trial on the standard of proof required.

In the 2007 Queen's Birthday Honours, Young was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services as president of the Court of Appeal. In 2009, following the restoration of titular honours by the New Zealand government, he accepted redesignation as a Knight Companion. In 2013, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in laws from the University of Canterbury.

Young was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court with effect from 1 July 2010. During his tenure he chaired from 2019 to 2020 the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch mosque shootings. He remained a permanent member of the Supreme Court until 2022. Thereafter he sat as an acting judge of the Supreme Court until 2024. On 3 April 2024, Young was granted retention of the title The Honourable, in recognition of his service as a judge of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and High Court.

Following his retirement from the New Zealand Supreme Court, Young has accepted five international judicial appointments. He was appointed a judge of the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts in July 2022, but resigned less than a month later citing the risk of 'adverse perceptions' in light of concerns raised by human rights campaigners about foreign judicial appointments allegedly being used to legitimise the United Arab Emirates political regime. In August 2022 he was appointed an ad-hoc justice in the Court of Appeal of the Seychelles. On 7 November 2022 he was sworn in as a judge of the Court of Appeal of Samoa. In October 2023 he was sworn to the Supreme Court of Fiji. On 8 May 2025, the Hong Kong government announced that Young would join the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal as a foreign non-permanent judge after receiving the endorsement of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.

Non-judicial involvement

While a barrister, Young was involved with the New Zealand Law Society educational programme and, since appointment to the bench, with the Institute of Judicial Studies, being the primary author of its Criminal Jury Trials Bench Book. He wrote "Summing Up to Juries – What Jury Research says about Current Rules and Practice" [2003] Crim LR 665 and co-authored a chapter in Witness Testimony: Psychological, Investigative and Evidential Perspectives (Oxford University Press 26 October 2006).

References

References

1. Chris Finlayson. (9 June 2010). "New Supreme Court judge and Court of Appeal President announced". Beehive.
2. "Appointment of non-permanent judge from another common law jurisdiction of Court of Final Appeal".
3. (2001). "New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa 2001". Alister Taylor Publishers.
4. (19 August 2022). "Exclusive: New Zealand judge Sir William Young resigns from Dubai judges job after pressure over human rights". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
5. Young, William Gillow Gibbes Austen. (1979). "Duress and abuse of inequality of bargaining position".
6. "The Judges of the Court of Appeal". Ministry of Justice.
7. (4 June 2007). "Queen's Birthday honours list 2007". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
8. Eames, David. (1 August 2009). "Arise Sir Russell – 72 accept revived knighthoods". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
9. (24 July 2023). "Doctor of Laws".
10. "The Judges of the Supreme Court — Courts of New Zealand".
11. (9 June 2010). "New Supreme Court judge appointed". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
12. Nightingale, Melissa. (13 April 2022). "Justice William Young retires from Supreme Court". NZ Herald.
13. (18 February 2025). "The Hon Sir William Young KNZM, KC, FAMINZ (Arb)".
14. (5 April 2024). "Retention of the title "The Honourable"". [[New Zealand Gazette]].
15. Bayer, Kurt. (19 August 2022). "Exclusive: NZ judge resigns from Dubai post after human rights furore".
16. (5 August 2022). "Appointment of Ad-hoc Justices of Appeal".
17. Matai'a Lanuola Tusani T – Ah Tong. (7 November 2022). "New Court of Appeal Justice sworn-in". Samoa Observer.
18. Kumar, Rashika. (3 October 2023). "NZ judge appointed to the Supreme Court of Fiji".
19. [http://www.aminz.org.nz/Story?Action=View&Story_id=1155 "2009 Conference Presenters"] AMINZ Inc. Retrieved 22 September 2010