John Latham (judge)

Sir John Latham
Latham in 1931
Chief Justice of Australia
In office
11 October 1935 – 7 April 1952
Nominated byJoseph Lyons
Appointed bySir Isaac Isaacs
Preceded bySir Frank Gavan Duffy
Succeeded bySir Owen Dixon
Attorney-General of Australia
In office
6 January 1932 – 12 October 1934
Prime MinisterJoseph Lyons
Preceded byFrank Brennan
Succeeded byRobert Menzies
Minister for External Affairs
In office
6 January 1932 – 12 October 1934
Prime MinisterJoseph Lyons
Preceded byJames Scullin
Succeeded bySir George Pearce
Minister for Industry
In office
6 January 1932 – 12 October 1934
Prime MinisterJoseph Lyons
Preceded byJames Scullin
Succeeded byRobert Menzies
Leader of the Opposition
In office
22 October 1929 – 7 May 1931
Prime MinisterJames Scullin
DeputyHenry Gullett
Preceded byJames Scullin
Succeeded byJoseph Lyons
Leader of the Nationalist Party
In office
22 October 1929 – 7 May 1931
DeputyHenry Gullett
Preceded byStanley Bruce
Succeeded byParty dissolved
Deputy Leader of the United Australia Party
In office
7 May 1931 – 15 September 1934
LeaderJoseph Lyons
Preceded byparty established
Succeeded byRobert Menzies
Minister for Industry
In office
10 December 1928 – 22 October 1929
Prime MinisterStanley Bruce
Preceded byNew title
Succeeded byJames Scullin
Attorney-General of Australia
In office
18 December 1925 – 22 October 1929
Prime MinisterStanley Bruce
Preceded byLittleton Groom
Succeeded byFrank Brennan
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Kooyong
In office
16 December 1922 – 7 August 1934
Preceded byRobert Best
Succeeded byRobert Menzies
Personal details
Born
John Greig Latham

(1877-08-26)26 August 1877
Ascot Vale, Victoria, Australia
Died25 July 1964(1964-07-25) (aged 86)
Richmond, Victoria, Australia
Political partyLiberal Union (1921–1925)
Nationalist (1925–1931)
United Australia (1931–1934)
Spouse
(m. 1907)
EducationScotch College
Alma materUniversity of Melbourne

Sir John Greig Latham GCMG PC QC (26 August 1877 – 25 July 1964) was an Australian lawyer, politician, and judge who served as the fifth Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1935 to 1952. He had earlier served as Attorney-General of Australia under Stanley Bruce and Joseph Lyons, and was Leader of the Opposition from 1929 to 1931 as the final leader of the Nationalist Party.

Latham was born in Melbourne. He studied arts and law at the University of Melbourne, and was called to the bar in 1904. He soon became one of Victoria's best known barristers. In 1917, Latham joined the Royal Australian Navy as the head of its intelligence division. He served on the Australian delegation to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, where he came into conflict with Prime Minister Billy Hughes. At the 1922 federal election, Latham was elected to parliament as an independent on an anti-Hughes platform. He got on better with Hughes' successor Stanley Bruce, and formally joined the Nationalist Party in 1925, subsequently winning promotion to cabinet as Attorney-General. He was also Minister for Industry from 1928, and was one of the architects of the unpopular industrial relations policy that contributed to the government's defeat at the 1929 election. Bruce lost his seat, and Latham was reluctantly persuaded to become Leader of the Opposition.

In 1931, Latham led the Nationalists into the new United Australia Party, joining with Joseph Lyons and other disaffected Labor MPs. Despite the Nationalists forming a larger proportion of the new party, he relinquished the leadership to Lyons, a better campaigner, thus becoming the first opposition leader to fail to contest a general election. In the Lyons government, Latham was the de facto deputy prime minister, serving both as Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs. He retired from politics in 1934, and the following year was appointed to the High Court as Chief Justice. From 1940 to 1941, Latham took a leave of absence from the court to become the inaugural Australian Ambassador to Japan. He left office in 1952 after almost 17 years as Chief Justice; only Garfield Barwick has served for longer.