BRILLIANT ADVOCATE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25455, 9 February 1944, Page 2

BRILLIANT ADVOCATE

MR A. C. HANLON'S CAREER TRIBUTES FROM BENCH AND BAR Eloquent tributes to the memory of Mr A. C. Hanlon, K.C., were paid by Mr Justice Kennedy and Mr C. J. L. White, president of the Otago Law Society, at a special sitting of the Supreme Court yesterday morning. The sitting was attended by an unusually large representation of members of the legal profession, and also present were members of Mr Hanlon’s family—Mr Jack Hanlon and Mesdames W. S. Robertson, E. R. Harty, and M. M. Chrystall. Mr J. R. Bartholomew, S.M., represented the lower court Bench, and apologies for unavoidable absence were received from Mr H. W. Bundle, S.M., and Mr H. J. Dixon, S.M. The Invercargill and Oamaru Law Socities were represented by Mr L. F. Moller and Mr S. I. Fitch respectively. “ May it please your Honor, the reason for this large and representative assembly of the Bar in your court this morning is a sad one,” Mr White said. “We have come together to mourn for the dead and to mark the passing of a very great advocate. On Monday Alfred Charles Hanlon, King’s Counsel, after a comparatively short illness, was laid to rest, and we, the members of the Otago Bar, now extend to his sorrowing family our most sincere sympathy. Mr Hanlon’s career at the Bar was a remarkable one, and the profession could not allow his death to pass without paying public tribute to his memory—indeed, members feel that they have lost not only one of their most distinguished brethren, but also a dear personal friend. Bom in Dunedin some 78 years ago, Mr Hanlon at the early age of 15 was articled as a law clerk to the late Mr J. A. D. Adams, and, having qualified as a barrister and solicitor, ne was admitted to the Bar in the year 1888 by the late Sir Joshua Williams. Two years later he commenced practising on his own account. Qualities Recognised “It was soon realised,” Mr White said, “that this young man was an advocate of no mean ability, and that he was possessed of all the necessary attributes to enable him to go far in his profession. His chance to demonstrate his real ability to handle a criminal case of the first magnitude came when he was briefed to defend a notorius slayer of infants who was tried for murder in Invercargill in the year 1895. Although he was unsuccessful in saving his client from the gallows, this young advocate put forward a defence of such ability and brilliance that it at once established him as one of the leading criminal advocates of his day. His subsequent career progressively substantiated his claim to such a distinction, until, I think, one may say without exaggeration that he was generally accepted by the profession and the public of New Zealand alike as one of the most able, if not the most able, criminal advocates in New Zealand.

"It is rather strange that it should fall to my lot, as president of the Otago Law Society, to pay this last tribute, because I am able to speak with intimate personal knowledge of the man in his professional capacity,” Mr White said. “During the time I was associated with him, Mr Hanlon was at the very zenith of his career, and one could not fail to be amazed at the masterly methods adopted by him in preparing his cases for trial. He maintained that • surprise was the keynote of successful cross-examination, and, that so far as speeches were concerned, they should be on the broadest possible lines, and with the least possible niggling over small details. The result was that his conduct of his cases in court was remarkable for the originality of his lines of attack and for the subtle brilliance and eloquence of his advocacy. His ability for rapidly assimilating the details of cases had to be observed to be credited. He was, I think, the last survivor of that great array of legal giants who practised at the Dunedin Bar about the commencement of this present century. Notwithstanding the fact that he practised among such brilliant company, I doubt whether any of them could address a jury with so much artistry and skill and with so much vigour as characterised Mr Hanlon’s efforts. “In 1930 the deceased was granted the patent of King’s Counsel, and he appeared for some years as senior counsel in many important cases. Gradually, however, with advancing years, his familiar and outstanding figure was seen less and less about the environs of these buildings, and I think it is now two or three years since he last appeared in this court. It is sad and difficult to believe that his resonant voice, which for about half a century resounded through these buildings, is now for ever silent. ' Man of Many Interests “Mr Hanlon was a former president of the Otago Law Society, and for many years was a member of its council,” Mr White said. “Apart from his profession, although resolutely refusing to take any active part in politics, local or national, he was closely associated with a number of local clubs and a large number of sporting bodies, of most of which he had at times been president. He was also president on several occasions of the Dunedin Orphans’ Club and was a foundation member and later president of the Dunedin Competitions Society. I know, however, that the society which took pride of place in his affections was the Dunedin Shakespeare Club, of which he was the oldest member, with a record of half a century as president, life member, coach, and outstanding public performer. He was withal a man of infinite jest and was a jolly companion, and with his highly developed Irish sense of humour, he was a raconteur of no mean order. All his life he paid tribute to the fact that he owed his extensive vocabulary to his long study of the works of Shakespeare, and I think it fitting that I should close these remarks with words which he himself so frequently declaimed from the public platform in Dunedin, words which were spoken by Marc Antony over the dead body of Brutus, but which seem aptly to describe our brother for whom we now mourn—- “ ‘ And the elements so mixed in him, that Nature might stand up and say to all the world, this was a man.’ ” His Honor’s Tribute “Gentlemen of the Bar: I join in your expression of deep regret at the death of your learned and well-beloved friend, Mr Hanlon. His death is mourned by the Bench no less than by the Bar,” his Honor said.” It was in this city that he began his work and in our courts that he first displayed those great abilities which were to carry him so far. Here he took silk and was called within the Bar. and here, within this hall, he made his last appearances as counsel. It is here, where we knew him so well, that his advocacy will be taken as a model and the bench and the Bar will hereafter refer to him.

“ His commanding presence, bis grasp of facts, his rich and expressive vocabulary, and his singular eloquence specially fitted him for nisi prius work, and he early disclosed himself as one of the great masters of civil and. especially, criminal advocacy. He had extraordinary gifts of understanding and powers of cross-examination, and withal he acted with such scrupulous fairness, perfect courtesy, and proper deference, that he invariably won the confidence of the tribunal before which he appeared. He maintained criminal pleading on its proper plane as the discharge of a high and honourable duty. “I have often thought that, in this city, young men at the Bar have been specially favoured to have before them so brilliant an advocate as an example and pattern,” his Honor said. “He had a great capacity for friendship and a genius for inspiring young men, and indeed he never did grow old except as time is reckoned in years. When he took silk it was obvious to the court that he was faithfully discharging the obligations of that office, and by example and by precept leading his juniors in his own tradition. His life was full and he had many interests and great achievements, but within these walls we speak of him chiefly as an officer of the court upon whose support and assistance the court could

implicity rely. He has now gone from us. Others may follow him, but no one will fill his place. “I associate myself with your expressions of sympathy with members of the family in their great loss, and to you, gentlemen of the Bar, I express my sympathy in the loss you have personally suffered through the death of your great leader.” • •