A farewell ceremony to mark the retirement of Justice Chris Maxwell AC as a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal was held on 22 June 2022. A recording of the ceremony is now available to view online.
Justice Chris Maxwell will retire as President of the Court of Appeal on 15 July 2022, after serving in the role for 17 years.
Reflecting on his time as President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Maxwell said:
'I have found being an appellate judge an exhilarating experience. It has been an intellectual adventure of a kind I simply did not anticipate. I have discovered a wholly new curiosity about law and about adjudication.
In pursuing that curiosity, I have come to recognise that judging has a crucial moral dimension, whether we are dealing with explicitly moral concepts like moral culpability in sentencing or unconscionability in consumer law or responding to the indeterminacy which the law throws up so often, where the rules simply do not give you the answer. But that is a topic for another day.
I have felt the excitement of learning through uncertainty, through asking questions. And I have discovered the pleasures of collaborative work, as you will hear.
But the greatest thrill has been to discover the richness and diversity of the justice system, and to experience the joy of participation in it.’