Minister of Justice (New Zealand)

The first Minister of Justice was appointed in 1870. This was followed in 1872 by the creation of the Department of Justice.

The Attorney-General is responsible for supervising New Zealand law and advising the Government on legal matters, and has ministerial jurisdiction over the Crown Law Office and the Parliamentary Counsel Office. The position is separate from that of 'Minister of Justice', though the two positions have sometimes been held by the same person, e.g. Geoffrey Palmer (1984 to 1989).^[3]

Responsibility for the police has never technically belonged to the Minister of Justice per se. Originally, the Minister of Defence was responsible. During the early 20th century, however, it became established that the person serving as Minister of Justice was also the minister in charge of the police. This continued until the election of the First Labour Government in 1935, when responsibility for the police became detached – the Minister of Police was eventually established as a full ministerial post in 1969.

In 1995, the Department of Justice was split into three parts – a Ministry of Justice would deal with policy matters, while the practical administration of the court system and the prison system would be given their own departments. This resulted in the creation of two new ministerial portfolios – Minister of Court and Minister of Corrections. The former has since been absorbed back into the Justice portfolio, but the latter is still independent.

Key

  Independent   Liberal   Reform   United   Labour   National

No.		Name	Portrait	Term of Office		Prime Minister
	1	Henry Sewell		13 June 1870	30 October 1871		Fox
	2	John Bathgate		29 October 1872	20 February 1874		Waterhouse
							Fox
							Vogel
	3	Maurice O'Rorke		20 February 1874	13 August 1874
	4	Charles Bowen		16 December 1874	13 October 1877
							Pollen
							Vogel
							Atkinson
	5	John Sheehan		13 October 1877	8 October 1879		Grey
	6	William Rolleston		15 December 1880	13 April 1881		Hall
	7	Thomas Dick		13 April 1881	11 October 1882
							Whitaker
	8	Edward Conolly		11 October 1882	16 August 1884
							Atkinson
	9	Joseph Tole		3 September 1884	8 October 1887		Stout
	10	Thomas Fergus		8 October 1887	17 October 1889		Atkinson
	11	William Russell		17 October 1889	24 January 1891
	12	William Pember Reeves		24 January 1891	28 May 1892		Ballance
	13	Alfred Cadman		28 May 1892	1 May 1893
							Seddon
	(12)	William Pember Reeves		20 July 1893	6 September 1893
	(13)	Alfred Cadman		6 September 1893	28 March 1895
	(12)	William Pember Reeves		28 March 1895	10 January 1896
	14	William Hall-Jones		10 January 1896	2 March 1896
	15	Thomas Thompson		2 March 1896	23 January 1900
	16	James McGowan		23 January 1900	6 January 1909
							Hall-Jones
							Ward
	17	John Findlay		6 January 1909	26 December 1911
	18	Josiah Hanan		28 March 1912	10 July 1912		Mackenzie
	19	Alexander Herdman		10 July 1912	12 August 1915		Massey
	20	Robert McNab		12 August 1915	20 February 1917
	(18)	Josiah Hanan		20 February 1917	14 November 1917
	21	Thomas Wilford		14 November 1917	25 August 1919
	22	Gordon Coates		4 September 1919	3 April 1920
	23	Ernest Lee		3 April 1920	13 January 1923
	24	Francis Bell		13 January 1923	27 June 1923
	25	James Parr		27 June 1923	18 January 1926
							Bell
							Coates
	26	Frank Rolleston		18 January 1926	26 November 1928
	27	William Downie Stewart Jr		26 November 1928	10 December 1928
	(21)	Thomas Wilford		10 December 1928	10 December 1929		Ward
	28	Thomas Sidey		18 December 1929	28 May 1930
	29	John Cobbe		28 May 1930	6 December 1935		Forbes
	30	Rex Mason		6 December 1935	13 December 1949		Savage
							Fraser
	31	Clifton Webb		13 December 1949	26 November 1954		Holland
	32	Jack Marshall		26 November 1954	12 December 1957
							Holyoake
	(30)	Rex Mason		12 December 1957	12 December 1960		Nash
	33	Ralph Hanan		12 December 1960	24 July 1969		Holyoake
	34	Dan Riddiford		22 December 1969	9 February 1972
	35	Roy Jack		9 February 1972	8 December 1972		Marshall
	36	Martyn Finlay		8 December 1972	12 December 1975		Kirk
							Rowling
	37	David Thomson		12 December 1975	13 December 1978		Muldoon
	38	Jim McLay		13 December 1978	26 July 1984
	39	Geoffrey Palmer		26 July 1984	8 August 1989		Lange
	40	Bill Jeffries		8 August 1989	2 November 1990		Palmer
							Moore
	41	Doug Graham		2 November 1990	1 February 1999		Bolger
							Shipley
	42	Tony Ryall		1 February 1999	10 December 1999
	43	Phil Goff		10 December 1999	19 October 2005		Clark
	44	Mark Burton		19 October 2005	31 October 2007
	45	Annette King		31 October 2007	19 November 2008
	46	Simon Power		19 November 2008	12 December 2011		Key
	47	Judith Collins		12 December 2011	30 August 2014
	–	Chris Finlayson Acting Minister		30 August 2014	8 October 2014
	48	Amy Adams		8 October 2014	26 October 2017
							English
	49	Andrew Little		26 October 2017	6 November 2020		Ardern
	50	Kris Faafoi		6 November 2020	14 June 2022
	51	Kiri Allan		14 June 2022	24 July 2023
							Hipkins
	52	Ginny Andersen		24 July 2023	27 November 2023
	53	Paul Goldsmith		27 November 2023	present		Luxon

• Justice ministry
• Law in New Zealand
• New Zealand Ministry of Justice
• Politics in New Zealand

• New Zealand Ministry of Justice