Mr Justice Adams Retires Next Month

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29189, 27 April 1960, Page 7

Mr Justice Adams Retires Next Month

Mr Justice Francis Boyd Adams, resident judge in Christchurch since 1954, will retire from active work on the Bench next month, after a long and distinguished career in the service of his country, at the bar, on the Bench and at war.

His Honour will start six months sabbatical leave, but will remain a judge until November 25, his 72nd birthday, when he reaches the compulsory retiring age for judges in New Zealand. His Honour, born in Dunedin in 1888, is a second-generation judge. His father, the late Mr Justice A. S. Adams, was judge in Christchurch from 1922 to 1932. A portrait of him, commissioned by the legal fraternity and painted by Archibald Nicoll, hangs in the Christchurch Supreme Court. Mr Justice F. B. Adams was dux of the Arthur street school. Dunedin, in 1902 and dux of the Otago Boys’ High School in 1906 He continued his education at Victoria University College and the University of Otago, where he graduated B.A. in 1910, LL.B, in 1911, and LL.M, in 1916. Admitted to the bar in Dunedin in 1911, his Honour began practising with the firms of Adams Brothers, established in 1883 by his uncle, Mr J. A. D. Adams. His Honour’s father joined the firm later. His Honour lectured in law on evidence, property and contracts at the University of Otago, in the First World War he spent 2j years in the Army and in 1918, as a second lieutenant in the Ist battalion, Otago Infantry Regiment, was wounded in the battle of Bapaume in France. In 1917, his Honour married Miss Evelyn Chandler. His wife died in 1950. There are four daughters of the marriage. One daughter is the wife of Mr lan White, a Christchurch solicitor, and another is married to Mr A. D. Horner, a solicitor, and coroner at Hawera. Crown Prosecutor

In 1921, his Honour was appointed Crown Prosecutor at Dunedin, a position he held until 1950. His father had been Crown Prosecutor in Dunedin, and a younger brother, Mr H. S. Adams, now holds the position, A councillor, treasurer and president of the Otago Law Society, his Honour was a frequent attender at New Zealand Law Society meetings. He was also on the New Zealand Council of Law Reporting from 1934 to 1938. and was a revising barrister

On July 25, 1950, he was appoin ted a judge of the Supreme Court of New Zealand and was at Wellington and Auckland before coming to Christchurch. The announcement of his Honour’s appointment to the Christchurch Supreme Court was made in September, 1953, when he was named as the successor to the late Sir Erima Northcroft Mr Justice Northcroft was to have retired after taking the November sessions of that year, but died in October. Mr Justice Adams first sat on the Bench in Christchurch on February 2, 1954. The day previously, he had had the sad task of arranging the Court tribute to the late Sir Arthur Donnelly, then Crown Prosecutor in Christchurch, and an old valued friend of his Honour. Famous Trials

Certainly the most celebrated case over which his Honour has presided was the trial of Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker, who were found guilty of murdering Parker's mother. The case attracted world-wide attention. His Honour, at the bar and on the Bench has taken part in al least 27 murder trials as well as hearing others in the Appeal Court. The most dramatic and interesting, from the judicial point of view, was that of Cecil G e° r g® Horry, found guilty at Auckland of the murder of Mary Eileen Turner in 1951, nine years after he had committed the crime. No part of Turner’s body was ever found. His Honour directed the jury that they could hold Horry guilty in spite of this fact 7 ‘‘l ga ve this ruling in fear and trembling,” he recalled yesterday, ‘‘but I was convinced I was right.” It was th ® ®F S such ruling given m the Bntisn Empire, and the Court of Appeal upheld rown prosecutor, his Honour took part in the trial for murder of Phyllis Freeman Sed in the late 1940's of poisoning an ° ther Pn^d an near strychnine at Enfield, near Oamaru. Freeman was charged 41 years after she had committed the 7 murder and would probably never have been charged had she not allegedly attempted to poison o second woman. The first trial lasted 11 days, and the jury could not agree on a verdict. The second trial lasted nearly as long, and the jury reached a verdict of guilty. His Honour, as Crown Prosecutor, had been in Court 21 days in all. The Bayly murder case is the only

criminal trial to have lasted longer than the Freeman trials. More recently, his Honour presided at the longest civil case ever to be heard in New Zealand, the mower case. It began in the Christchurch Supreme Court in March, 1959, occupied 152 days in Court and was not disposed of until February last. His Honour, at the bar, will be remembered mostly for acumen in law, the thorough and painstaking preparation he gave his cases and his brilliant flair for cross-examination. On the Bench, his Honour’s wide grasp of law and his ability to get to the fundamental facts will be recalled as his outstanding talents.

Barristers will remember his unfailing courtesy, his restraint even when visibly annoyed, and in particular his kindliness and assistance to barristers in first appearances in the Supreme Court.

His Honour has no particular plans for his retirement. In 1955-56 he visited Britain and the United States while on sabbatical leave. He will probably continue to live in Christchurch. He is a keen amateur photographer and began playing bowls last year.