List of justices of the High Court of Australia

Official photograph of the first session of the High Court of Australia in the Banco Court, Supreme Court of Victoria, 6 October 1903. The mounting is autographed by the three foundation justices: from left to right, Edmund Barton, Samuel Griffith and Richard O'Connor.

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,<ref>Template:Cite Legislation AU</ref> 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".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:As of 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		Template:Sortname	Qld	1845–1920	Chief justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Deakin	Chief justice, Sup Ct of Qld
2		Template:Sortname	NSW	1849–1920	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Deakin	None	Former prime minister Died in office
3		Template:Sortname	NSW	1851–1912	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Deakin	None	Died in office
4		Template:Sortname	Vic	1855–1948	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Deakin	None	Resigned to be appointed governor-general
					Chief justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Scullin
5		Template:Sortname	Vic	1851–1929	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Deakin	None	Died in office
6		Template:Sortname	Vic	1852–1936	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Fisher	None
					Chief justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Scullin
7		Template:Sortname	Qld	1853–1939	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Fisher	None
8*		Template:Sortname	NSW	1862–1945	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Fisher	None	Resigned before sitting
9		Template:Sortname	NSW	1863–1956	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Fisher	Sup Ct of NSW
10		Template:Sortname	NSW	1863–1932	Chief justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Hughes	None
11		Template:Sortname	Vic	1871–1958	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Hughes	None
12		Template:Sortname	Vic	1886–1972	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Bruce	None
					Chief justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Menzies
13		Template:Sortname	NSW	1894–1965	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Scullin	None	Resigned to return to politics
14		Template:Sortname	NSW	1892–1990	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Scullin	None
15	File:CJSJohnLatham.jpg	Template:Sortname	Vic	1877–1964	Chief justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Lyons	None
16	File:HCA bench 1952 (cropped).jpg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1889–1963	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Menzies	Sup Ct of NSW
17	File:William Webb.jpg	Template:Sortname	Qld	1887–1972	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Chifley	Chief justice, Sup Ct of Qld
18	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	Vic	1892–1961	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Menzies	Sup Ct of Vic	Died in office
19	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1903–1994	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Menzies	None
20	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1901–1969	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Menzies	Sup Ct of NSW	Died in office
21	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	Vic	1907–1974	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Menzies	None	Died in office
22	File:Victor Windeyer 016473.JPG	Template:Sortname	NSW	1900–1987	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Menzies	None
23	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1899–1972	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Menzies	Sup Ct of NSW	Died in office
24	File:Garfield Barwick 1959.jpg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1903–1997	Chief justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Menzies	None
25	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1909–1973	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Gorton	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App	Died in office
26	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	Qld	1917–2005	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Gorton	Fed Ct of BK Sup Ct of Qld
					Chief justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:EfnTemplate:Efn	Fraser
27	File:Sir Ninian Stephen.jpg	Template:Sortname	Vic	1923–2017	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	McMahon	Sup Ct of Vic	Resigned to be appointed governor-general
28	File:Anthony Mason, Solicitor-General of Australia (cropped).jpg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1925–	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	McMahon	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App	Previously Solicitor-General of Australia
					Chief justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Hawke
29	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1917–2015	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Whitlam	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App
30	File:Lionel Murphy 1973 (cropped).jpg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1922–1986	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Whitlam	None	Died in office
31	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	Vic	1916–1982	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Fraser	None	Died in office
32	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	WA	1922–2005	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Fraser	None
33	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	Qld	1928–2022	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:EfnTemplate:Efn	Fraser	Fed Ct
					Chief justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Keating
34	File:William Deane official portrait.jpg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1931–	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Fraser	Fed Ct	Resigned to be appointed governor-general
35	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	Vic	1933–	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Fraser	None
36	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	WA	1930–2015	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Hawke	Fed Ct
37	File:Mary Gaudron (2011).jpg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1943–	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Hawke	None
38	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1935–	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Hawke	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App
39	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1942–	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Keating	Fed Ct
40	File:The Hon Michael D. Kirby AC CMG (cropped).jpg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1939–	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Keating	Sup Ct of NSW Pres, NSW Ct of App
41	File:Kenneth Hayne portrait.jpg	Template:Sortname	Vic	1945–	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Howard	Sup Ct of Vic Vic Ct of App
42	File:IanCallinan.jpg	Template:Sortname	Qld	1937–	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts<ref name="CallinanRetirement">"Callinan retires from High Court", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 31 August 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2007.</ref>	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Howard	None
43	File:Murray Gleeson.jpg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1938–	Chief justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts<ref name="Gleesonretirement">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Howard	Chief justice, Sup Ct of NSW
44		Template:Sortname	NSW	1943–	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Howard	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App
45	File:SusanCrennan2014.jpg	Template:Sortname	Vic	1945–	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Howard	Fed Ct
46	File:Susan Kiefel 2011.jpg	Template:Sortname	Qld	1954–	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:EfnTemplate:Efn	Howard	Sup Ct of Qld Fed Ct
					Chief justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Turnbull
47	File:Robert French.jpg	Template:Sortname	WA	1947–	Chief justice	Template:Dts<ref name="Gleesonretirement" />	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Rudd	Fed Ct
48	File:BellJ.jpg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1951–	Justice	Template:Dts<ref name="Kirbyretirement">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || align="center" | Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Rudd	Sup Ct of NSW NSW Ct of App
49	File:GagelerSwearingIn.jpg	Template:Sortname	NSW	1958–	Justice	Template:Dts<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || Incumbent	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Gillard	None	Previously Solicitor-General of Australia
					Chief justice	Template:Dts	Incumbent	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Albanese
50	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	Qld	1952–	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Gillard	Sup Ct of Qld Fed Ct
51	File:No image.svg	Template:Sortname	Vic	1950–	Justice	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Abbott	Sup Ct of Vic
52	Template:Easy CSS image crop	Template:Sortname	Vic	1964–	Justice	Template:Dts	Incumbent	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Abbott	Fed Ct
53		Template:Sortname	WA	1974–	Justice	Template:Dts	Incumbent	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Turnbull	Fed Ct Sup Ct of WA
54		Template:Sortname	Vic	1969–	Justice	Template:Dts	Incumbent	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Morrison	Fed Ct
55		Template:Sortname	NSW	1966–	Justice	Template:Dts	Incumbent	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Morrison	Fed Ct
56		Template:Sortname	NSW	1964/65–	Justice	Template:Dts	Incumbent	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Albanese	Fed Ct NSW LEC
57		Template:Sortname	NSW	c.1964	Justice	Template:Dts	Incumbent	Template:Ayd Template:Efn	Albanese	Sup Ct of NSW

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. Template:Composition of the High Court of Australia

See also

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

External links

• Template:Official website