Cheryl Anne Saunders (born 28 August 1944) is an Australian legal academic. She is a Laureate Professor Emeritus at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

Career

Saunders was the first woman to be appointed as a professor in the Law Faculty at University of Melbourne. She was also a founding director of its Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies. She has been awarded several honours in recognition of her work. In 1994 she was appointed an officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

"for service to the law and to public administration" and in 2003 she received the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

. In 2005 the University of Cordoba conferred an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

on Saunders. She was elected to the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in France for her services to the

Académie Internationale de Droit Constitutionnel An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in 2009. Saunders is a Fellow of the

Academy of Social Sciences in Australia The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA) is an independent, non-governmental organisation devoted to the advancement of knowledge and research in the social sciences. It has its origins in the Social Science Research Council of Aus ...

and a Foundation Fellow of the

Australian Academy of Law The Australian Academy of Law (AAL) is a permanent, non-government organisation devoted to the advancement of the discipline of law. According to its Constitution, the Australian Academy of Law comprises individuals of exceptional distinction from a ...

. She was elected as a Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

in July 2018. In 2022 she was awarded the

Tang Prize The Tang Prize ( zh, c=唐獎) is a set of Taiwanese biennial international awards bestowed in four fields: Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology, and Rule of Law. Nomination and selection are conducted by an independent se ...

in the category "Rule of Law".Tang Prize 2022
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Cheryl 1944 births Living people Officers of the Order of Australia Fellows of the British Academy Academic staff of the University of Melbourne 21st-century Australian lawyers 20th-century Australian lawyers Recipients of the Legion of Honour Fellows of the Australian Academy of Law Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia People from Quetta 21st-century Australian women lawyers 20th-century Australian women lawyers