William Martin (judge)

Infobox_Officeholder
name=Sir William Martin
order=1^st Chief Justice of New Zealand
term_start=5 February 1841
term_end=June 12 1857
predecessor="Office established"
successor=George Arney
birth_date=1807
birth_place=Birmingham, GBR
death_date=18 November 1880
death_place=Torquay, GBR
spouse=Mary Ann Parker
religion=

Sir William Martin (1807 - 1880) was the first Chief Justice of New Zealand, from 1841 to 1857, when he resigned.

He was appointed by the Colonial Office in January 1841 (warrant under Royal sign manual 5 February 1841; sworn 10 January 1842), and arrived in New Zealand in August 1841.

He worked in New Zealand with Henry Samuel Chapman, who in 1843 was appointed Judge for New Munster, the southern province of New Zealand including Wellington and the South Island, and was resident judge at Wellington for eight years to 1852. They produced the 1852 "Report on Supreme Court Procedure for New Zealand".

Martin and the Attorney-General William Swainson were responsible for setting up the New Zealand judicial system. Martin, a friend of George Augustus Selwyn was sympathetic to the missionary and evangelical aspirations of the Anglican Church in the South Pacific, and to the Māori. He wrote protests against the Crown's disregard of its moral obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi and the invasion of Taranaki.

He resigned on 12 June 1857, and was knighted (Kt Bach) in 1860.

External links

* [http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=3I2 Dictionary of New Zealand Biography]
* [http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/M/MartinSirWilliam/MartinSirWilliam/en Biography in the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand]