Murray Herbert Tobias, (1939 – 4 March 2023) was an Australian jurist who served as a judge of the Court of Appeal of the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian States and territories of Australia, State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil law (common law), civil matters, and hears ...

from April 2003 to March 2011.

Education

Tobias studied at The Scots College, Sydney. He graduated in law from the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

, and subsequently attained a BCL from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

.Who's Who in Australia

Career

Tobias was appointed

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1978. From 1993–95, Tobias was President of the NSW Bar Association. In 2003, Tobias was appointed a Judge of Appeal of the

NSW Court of Appeal The New South Wales Court of Appeal, part of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, is the highest court for civil matters and has appellate jurisdiction in the Australian state of New South Wales. Jurisdiction The Court of Appeal operates pursu ...

and retired in March 2011. He continued to serve as an Acting Judge in Appeal until March 2016. Tobias was also a member of the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

Reserve Legal Panel from 1968, retiring as Head of Panel when he turned 60 with the rank of captain. At the time of his retirement he was a Judge Advocate and a Defence Force Magistrate. Tobias was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the

1998 Australia Day Honours The 1998 Australia Day Honours are appointments to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 1998 by the Governor General of Australia, Sir William Deane. The Austr ...

for "service to the legal profession, particularly through the New South Wales and Australian Bar Associations, and to military law".

References

1939 births 2023 deaths Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Australian King's Counsel Judges of the Supreme Court of New South Wales Members of the Order of Australia Sydney Law School alumni People educated at Scots College (Sydney) {{Australia-law-bio-stub