Sir John William Hansen (born 1945) is a retired judge of the

New Zealand High Court The High Court of New Zealand () is the superior court of New Zealand. It has general jurisdiction and responsibility, under the Senior Courts Act 2016, as well as the High Court Rules 2016, for the administration of justice throughout New Zeala ...

and a member of the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

Code of Conduct Commission.John Hansen's briefing to media on procedure to be adopted at Harbhajan Singh appeal hearing
He has held several judicial offices from 1979 until 1988 in Hong Kong and since 1988, in the

High Court of New Zealand The High Court of New Zealand () is the superior court of New Zealand. It has general jurisdiction and responsibility, under the Senior Courts Act 2016, as well as the High Court Rules 2016, for the administration of justice throughout New Zeala ...

. He was a professional cricket player and later took on administrative jobs at

. Since 2019, Hansen has been the chairperson of the

Canterbury District Health Board The Canterbury District Health Board (Canterbury DHB or CDHB; ) was a district health board with the focus on providing healthcare to the Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury region of New Zealand, north of the Rangitata River. It was responsibl ...

Career

Hansen started his education at

Wakari Wakari ( ) is a residential suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located to the northwest of the city centre, immediately to the west of the ridge which runs to the west of the city's centre. Wakari lies to the north of the upper r ...

School in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

in 1968 from the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

, New Zealand. In 1967, he had joined the law firm of Aspinall, Joel & Co and then moved to John E Farry. In 1969, he became a partner of the firm, which is now called as John E. Farry & Hansen. During the years between 1979 and 1988, Hansen was based in Hong Kong appointed as a magistrate, coroner, district court judge, family court judge and High Court master. In 1988, he returned to New Zealand and became a master of the New Zealand High Court. He was later appointed as a judge of the High Court in July 1995. He retired in 2008. In latter years he had been performing his duties at

Christchurch High Court The High Court of New Zealand () is the superior court of New Zealand. It has general jurisdiction and responsibility, under the Senior Courts Act 2016, as well as the High Court Rules 2016, for the administration of justice throughout New Zeala ...

.Details of ''The Honourable Justice John Hansen''
/ref> In the

2008 Queen's Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 2008 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's Of ...

, Hansen was appointed a

Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have r ...

, for services to the judiciary. In

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, following the restoration of titular honours by the New Zealand government, he accepted redesignation as a

Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for th ...

. In March 2009, Hansen was appointed to Court of Appeal of the Solomon Islands and in April 2009 he was appointed to the Court of Appeals of Samoa. In December 2019, Hansen was appointed by the Minister of Health as chairperson of the

Cricket

Hansen has played senior club cricket in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

till 1979. In 1979, he moved to Hong Kong where he became the captain of

Kowloon Cricket Club The Kowloon Cricket Club, also called KCC (), is a members only cricket club and social club situated in Kowloon, Hong Kong, on Cox's Road. History The Cricket Club was established on 4 October 1904 and was provided land from the government i ...

. He was also the manager of the Hong Kong national team in the 1980s. In 1988 he moved back to New Zealand, and is currently the president of Willows Cricket Club,

North Canterbury Canterbury () is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of , making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of The region in its current form was estab ...

. Hansen is also a member of

''Code of Conduct Commission'' representing

. As a member of this commission, Hansen's responsibilities include overseeing formal enquiries into conduct, which in the opinion of the Executive Board is prejudicial to the interests of the game of cricket. He will then make recommendations to the Executive Board on these matters.ICC ''Code of Conduct Commission''
– From ''ICC STRUCTURE AND CONTACTS'' Official Web page

Hearing of BCCI appeal

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n spinner

Harbhajan Singh Harbhajan Singh (born 3 July 1980), also known by his nickname Bhajji, is a former Indian cricketer. He later became a politics, politician, serving as a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha. He is also a fil ...

was charged with a Level 3 offence of racially abusing

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n cricketer

Andrew Symonds Andrew Symonds (9 June 1975 – 14 May 2022) was an Australian international cricketer, who played all three formats as a batting all-rounder. Commonly nicknamed "Roy", he was a key member of two Cricket World Cup, World Cup–winning squads. ...

during the second Test of 2007–08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, in

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

. At the completion of the test match, the match referee

Mike Procter Michael John Procter (15 September 1946 – 17 February 2024) was a South African cricketer, whose involvement in international cricket was limited by South Africa's banishment from world cricket in the 1970s and 1980s. A fast bowler and hard- ...

conducted the hearing with involved players and upheld the charges, issuing a ban of three Test matches to Harbhajan Singh. The

BCCI The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...

filed an appeal against the decision on behalf of Harbhajan. Hansen was appointed to hear the appeal, on 8 January 2008 and the hearing was scheduled for 29 and 30 January. On 29 January 2008, the hearing on the appeal was conducted by Hansen. The racism charge on Harbhajan Singh was not proved and therefore cleared and three Test ban imposed on him by match referee

was lifted. However, lesser charge (Level 2.8 offence) of using abusive language was applied and Harbhajan was fined 50% of his match fee. Also it was reported that senior players had written a letter to the justice requesting a downgrading of the charge. Captains and Cricket Boards (BCCI and CA) of both the countries expressed their satisfaction with the outcome of the hearing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, John 1945 births Living people New Zealand cricketers University of Otago alumni Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit High Court of New Zealand judges New Zealand judges on the courts of Hong Kong New Zealand judges on the courts of Samoa New Zealand judges on the courts of the Solomon Islands British Hong Kong judges Lawyers from Dunedin Canterbury District Health Board members