Sir Frederik Gordon Roy Ward

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

is a retired British judge who has served in various countries of the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

Early life

He was educated in England, obtaining a BSc in botany, zoology and geology, and then taught biology in Northern Ireland.

Career

Ward studied law and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

and practiced from chambers in London for 12 years. In 1979 he went to the South Pacific, where he first worked in Fiji for six and a half years. He then served as a judge on the Court of Appeal of the Solomon Islands where, from circa 1988 to 1992, he was Chief Justice. He then moved to Tonga to become

Chief Justice of Tonga Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

and a judge of the

Supreme Court of Tonga The Supreme Court of Tonga is the superior court in Tonga. It hears criminal and civil cases and acts as an appellate court for Tonga's inferior courts, the Magistrates' Courts. Jurisdiction The Supreme Court can hear appeals as of right from any ...

.Susan Boyd (2003), "Australian judges at work internationally", ''

Australian Law Journal The ''Australian Law Journal'' is an Australian peer-reviewed law journal which has been publishing since 1927. Studies have found that it is one of the most cited Australian law journals. A 2002 study found that while on the Federal Court of A ...

'', vol. 77, p. 303 at 305. In 1995 he moved to serve as a judge in Cyprus before returning in 1998 to serve a second term as Chief Justice of Tonga, resigning in 2004 in protest at attempts to ban the ''

Times of Tonga The Times of Tonga (''Taimi o Tonga'') was a biweekly newspaper in Tonga. First published in April 1989, it was published for 30 years by editor and publisher Kalafi Moala and was a frequent target of the Tongan government. Moala sold the business ...

'' newspaper, a paper unsympathetic to the government, a move which he considered to be unconstitutional. On leaving this post he took up a new position as the President of the Appeal Court of

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. In 2007, following the December 2006 military coup, Ward and five other judges resigned as judges of the courts of Fiji. He was the Chief Justice of the

Turks and Caicos Islands The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and n ...

from 2008 to 2012 and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to the judiciary in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Commonwealth. Ward was the Chief Justice of the High Court of Tuvalu from 2001 to 2016. In May 2013 the Chief Justice ruled on the application of the Tuvaluan Opposition regarding the calling of a by-election for the vacant seat in

Nukufetau Nukufetau is an atoll that is part of the nation of Tuvalu. The atoll was claimed by the US under the Guano Islands Act some time in the 19th century and was ceded in a treaty of friendship concluded in 1979 and coming into force in 1983. It has a ...

, which led to the

2013 Nukufetau by-election A by-election was held in the Nukufetau constituency in Tuvalu on 28 June 2013.

. The Chief Justice was forced to conduct the legal proceedings by email as a consequence of being unable to travel from New Zealand to

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...

via Fiji as the Fijian regime refused to provide Sir Gordon Ward with a visa that allowed him to travel from New Zealand to Fiji and then to transit to Tuvalu. In 2019 he was appointed as acting Chief Justice of Tuvalu, pending the appeal by the Hon Charles Sweeney QC against the termination of his appointment by a resolution of the Parliament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Gordon Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Members of the Middle Temple Chief justices of Tuvalu British judges on the courts of Fiji British judges on the courts of Tonga Knights Bachelor Officers of the Order of the British Empire Chief justices of the Turks and Caicos Islands Supreme Court of Tonga justices Chief justices of Tonga British judges on the courts of Tuvalu British judges on the courts of the Solomon Islands British judges on the courts of Cyprus