Background
He was born in Königsberg, Germany, and his family emigrated to Wellington, New Zealand in 1938 to escape the persecution of Jews.
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Thomas Eichelbaum
Edit Profile艾俊彬爵士
Education
Eichelbaum was educated at Hutt Valley High School, then attended Victoria University of Wellington graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1954.
Career
In 1978 Eichelbaum was appointed a Queen"s Counsel and during 1980-1982 was President of the New Zealand Law Society. In 1982 Eichelbaum was appointed a judge of the High Court of New Zealand. The highest judicial position Eichelbaum held was in 1989 when he was appointed the Chief Justice of New Zealand and retired from the Bench in 1999.
Since retiring as a judge, Sir Thomas has conducted investigations on a number of controversial topics.
He chaired the 2000–2001 Report of the Royal Commission on Genetic tion. He also investigated the reasons for New Zealand losing co-hosting rights to the 2003 Rugby World Cup.
Following his report, the chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of the New Zealand Rugby Union both resigned. In 2001, he conducted a ministerial inquiry reviewing children"s evidence in the controversial Peter Ellis case.
His report, which has been widely criticised, upheld the guilty verdicts and stands in contrast to an earlier report by retired High Court judge, Sir Thomas Thorp.
A New Zealand Law Journal editorial has stated that Eichelbaum had either not read all the children"s statements (reviewing only those allowed by the trial judge) or that, "with respect, his judgment is at fault."
and later that same year was appointed to The Privy Council. Eichelbaum is (May 2008) a non-permanent judge of the Hong Kong Sons of the American Revolution Court of Final Appeal and a part-time justice of the Supreme Court of Fiji and the Court of Appeal of Fiji.
Achievements
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Born
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Nationality
New Zealand