Sir Owen Dixon | |
|---|---|
 Dixon in 1950 | |
| Chief Justice of Australia | |
| In office 18 April 1952 – 13 April 1964 | |
| Nominated by | Robert Menzies |
| Appointed by | William McKell |
| Preceded by | Sir John Latham |
| Succeeded by | Sir Garfield Barwick |
| Justice of the High Court of Australia | |
| In office 4 February 1929 – 13 April 1964 | |
| Nominated by | Stanley Melbourne Bruce |
| Preceded by | H. B. Higgins |
| Succeeded by | Sir Alan Taylor |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 28 April 1886 Melbourne, Australia |
| Died | 7 July 1972 (aged 86) Melbourne, Australia |
| Education | University of Melbourne |
Sir Owen Dixon OM GCMG PC (28 April 1886 – 7 July 1972) was an Australian judge and diplomat who served as the sixth Chief Justice of Australia. Many consider him to be Australia's most prominent jurist.[1][2]
Dixon served as a justice of the High Court for 35 years, including a 12 year period as Chief Justice. He was considered in his time to be one of the world's leading common law jurists, and his judgments reportedly "carried persuasive effect wherever the common law was applied".[3]
In his lifetime, he was showered globally with various honours, including an appointment to the Privy Council, various honours such as the GCMG and Order of Merit, as well as honorary degrees from the university of Oxford, Harvard, Melbourne, and the Australian National University, as well as an award from Yale for "services to mankind".[3]
The British law lord Lord Wilberforce wrote of Dixon: "There is no such thing as substandard Dixon, but from time to time there is Dixon at his superb best."
- ^ Graham Perkin – Its Most Eminent Symbol Hidden by The Law Archived 20 June 2005 at the Wayback Machine (published in The Age on 23 September 1959)
- ^ Jim Spigelman (22 May 2003), "Australia's Greatest Jurist" (PDF), compilation of speeches delivered by the Hon. J J Spigelman, AC, Chief Justice of NSW in 2003, p. 95
- ^ a b Anderson, Grant; Dawson, Daryl, "Dixon, Sir Owen (1886–1972)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 23 April 2023