The following table contains the details of the 44 men and four women who have ever been appointed as Justices of the High Court of Australia. The High Court of Australia was formed in 1903 under the Judiciary Act 1903, and under Section 71 of the Australian Constitution the judicial power of the Commonwealth of Australia is vested in the Court. Since the passing of the Australia Act 1986, the court has been the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy.
The court is currently composed of seven judges, including six puisne justices and the Chief Justice of Australia. The current judges are listed in bold on the table below. The most recent appointments to the court are Chief Justice Robert French, formerly a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, and Justice Virginia Bell, formerly of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. Chief Justice French, whose appointment was announced on 30 July 2008, replaced Chief Justice Murray Gleeson, who retired on 31 August 2008. Justice Bell replaced Justice Michael Kirby, who retired on 2 February 2009. Appointments made since 1977 are until the mandatory retirement age of seventy. Before 1977, appointment was for life. As the workload of the Court has steadily increased, several Justices have retired before reaching the mandatory retirement age.
13 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. No justice since Lionel Murphy has served in state or federal parliament.
Read more about Justices Of The High Court Of Australia: List of Justices, Current Justices, Composition of The High Court
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