Geoffrey Briggs

The Honourable Dato Setia Sir Geoffrey Briggs DSNB QC
Chief Justice of Hong Kong
1st Chief Justice of Brunei
In office 1963 – 18 June 1979
Nominated by	Omar Ali Saifuddien III
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Denys Roberts
19th Chief Justice of Hong Kong
In office 1973–1978
Preceded by	Ivo Rigby
Succeeded by	Denys Roberts
14th Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific
In office 1962–1965
Preceded by	Albert Lowe
Succeeded by	Jocelyn Bodilly
Personal details
Born	Geoffrey Gould Briggs (1914-05-06)6 May 1914 Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England
Died	12 May 1993(1993-05-12) (aged 79) Bath, Somerset, England
Alma mater	Christ Church (BA; BCL)
Occupation	Judge and law officer
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	British Army
Rank	Major
Battles/wars	World War II

Sir Geoffrey Gould Briggs QC (6 May 1914 – 12 May 1993)^[1] was an English lawyer and judge. He was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hong Kong in the 1970s and of Brunei in the 1980s.

Briggs was born in 1914, the second son of Reverend C. E. Briggs of Amersham, Buckinghamshire. He was educated at Sherborne School and Christ Church, Oxford where he took the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Civil Law. He was called to the bar of Gray's Inn in 1938. He served during World War II as a Major in the County of London Yeomanry.^[1]

In 1954, Briggs was appointed Attorney General of Eastern Nigeria. He was appointed a Queen's Counsel for Nigeria in 1955.^[2] In 1958, he was appointed Puisne Judge of the Unified Judiciary of Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei.^[3] He served there until 1962 when he was appointed Chief Judicial Commissioner for the Western Pacific.

In 1965, he was appointed Puisne Judge in Hong Kong and later promoted to Chief Justice of Hong Kong in 1973 upon the retirement of Ivo Rigby. In that position, he served concurrently as Chief Justice of Brunei. He served as Chief Justice of Brunei and Hong Kong until 1979.^[1] He was knighted in the 1974 New Year Honours.^[4]

Briggs retired to England in 1979. He continued to serve in a number of judicial roles in retirement, including President of the Brunei Court of Appeals (1979–1988), Justice of Appeal, Court of Appeal, Gibraltar (1983 to 1988) and President of the Pensions Appeal Tribunal for England and Wales (1980 to 1987). He died in Bath in 1993.^[5][6]

• Order of Setia Negara Brunei (DSNB; 1973) – Dato Setia^[7]