Owen Dixon

Sir Owen Dixon, OM GCMG, KBE (1886 - 1972), Australian judge and diplomat, was the sixth Chief Justice of Australia. A justice of the High Court for thirty-five years, Dixon is widely regarded as one of Australia’s most remarkable legal minds.

Education

Dixon was born in Hawthorn in suburban Melbourne in 1886. He attended Hawthorn College and later the University of Melbourne, graduating with an Arts degree in 1907. His BA became an MA, as was the custom then, a year later upon the payment of a small fee. He studied law at Melbourne, although he did not take his final honours exam, probably because he was working too much at the time. He was later awarded honorary doctorates from Harvard, Oxford and perhaps somewhat belatedly, Melbourne.

Legal career

Dixon was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1910. In December 1911, Dixon appeared before the High Court of Australia for the first time, aged just 25 years. In the 1920s, Dixon was a prominent member of the Victorian Bar, along with his colleagues and friends John Latham (who preceded Dixon as Chief Justice) and Robert Menzies (later the longest serving Prime Minister of Australia).

Judicial career

In 1926, Dixon was briefly made an Acting Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria, and although he was considered to be an excellent judge, he did not enjoy the experience. In 1929, Dixon was appointed to the bench of the High Court, by his friend Latham, who was then the Commonwealth Attorney-General. During his time on the bench, Dixon also wrote several judgements on behalf of his colleague, Sir George Rich. The propriety of one judge writing a judgment under the name of another has never been upheld.

From 1942 to 1944, Dixon took leave from his judicial duties while he served as Australia’s Minister (Ambassador) to Washington, at the request of the then Prime Minister John Curtin. On May 27 1950, Dixon was invited by the United Nations to act as their official mediator between the governments of India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir. His role was to continue conciliation talks between the two nations in the lead up to a proposed plebiscite to be put to the residents of Kashmir. His role as mediator ended in October 1950, although he had left India in September frustrated with what he saw as an inability of the respective governments to negotiate.

In 1951, Dixon was appointed a member of the Privy Council, the English judicial organ which, at that stage, was the final court of appeal in Australian legal matters. However, Dixon never took up his seat on that Court. In fact, Dixon's disdain for the Privy Council is well documented, particularly in Phillip Ayres' biography, titled Owen Dixon. Here, it is revealed that Dixon approached then-Prime Minister Robert Menzies on at least two occasions, urging a restriction of appeals to the Privy Council. In Dixon's view, the council had a limited understanding of Australian Constitutional law, allowed appeals on trivial matters, and published confusing judgements. His words to Menzies were "I do not think they have a clue."

In 1952, Dixon was appointed Chief Justice of the High Court by his friend Robert Menzies, who remained Prime Minister throughout Dixon’s tenure in the position. This marked the beginning of a period described by Lord Denning as the "golden age" of the High Court. Complemented by the work of Justices Kitto, Fullagar and Windeyer, Dixon led what Justice Spigelman has described as "one of the great common law benches of history." It may come as a surprise, then, that this period was one of relative stability in the area of Australian Constitutional Law. The most notable decisions from this period include R v Kirby; ex parte Boilermakers' Society of Australia (Boilermakers' Case) (1956) and Victoria v Commonwealth (Second Uniform Tax Case) (1957).

In 1952, and again in 1955, Dixon was called upon by the Governor of Victoria to give advice when the upper house refused to pass supply bills. Dixon advised the Governor of his powers in such a situation. This precedent was followed after Dixon's death, when then-Governor-General Sir John Kerr sought advice from Sir Garfield Barwick CJ before dismissing the Labor Government under Gough Whitlam in 1975.

Dixon retired from the High Court in 1964, to be replaced by Sir Garfield Barwick, who as a barrister had argued for the Commonwealth in the Communist Party Case, and of whom Dixon disapproved.

Dixon has often been described as a product of his times – for example, he was a strong supporter of the White Australia policy, and was a critic of most organized religions ands, as Ayers' work shows, a virulent anti-catholic. Furthermore, he had a strong involvement with several politicians of the day, notably Robert Menzies, and on occasion gave "advice" to federal ministers on foreign policy matters. This is not usually regarded as proper for a serving judge. Conversely, Dixon is remembered primarily for his attitude of "strict and complete legalism" in his approach to contentious issues, and is considered by some to be among the least politically influenced judges. [1] For these and many other reasons, he is widely regarded as Australia's greatest judge and lawyer.

The Owen Dixon chambers in Melbourne's legal district is named after him.

Honours

Dixon was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1941, and was elevated to a Knight Grand Cross of that order (GCMG) in 1954.

The road Owen Dixon Drive in the suburbs of Spence, Melba and McKellar in Canberra, Australia is named in honour of Sir Owen Dixon.

The suburb of Dixon in Canberra, Australia is also named in his honour.

References

• Graham Perkin – Its Most Eminent Symbol Hidden by The Law (published in The Age on September 23 1959)
• Michael Sexton – Owen Dixon (book review) (published in the Sydney Morning Herald on June 21 2003)
• Dr Philip Ayres – Federalism and Sir Owen Dixon
• Justice Jim Spigelman, "Australia's Greatest Jurist," presented in Sydney, May 2003.