Judge's ruling halted divisive All Black tour

Sir Maurice Casey. Photo / NZ Herald archives

Sir Maurice Casey
1923-2012

Sir Maurice Casey, the judge whose injunction stopped the All Blacks touring South Africa in 1985, has died. He was 88.

Coming four years after the divisive anti-Springbok tour, the return tour plan split New Zealand again.

Sir Maurice granted an interim injunction brought by two Auckland rugby club members who wanted the tour stopped - as did then Prime Minister David Lange, who said New Zealand's interests at home and abroad could be severely affected by sporting contact with South Africa, then still an apartheid state.

When Sir Maurice retired in 1995 after a 21-year judicial career, many in legal circles praised his courtesy, incisiveness and common sense.

A business newspaper noted the judge couldn't stand the practice of some lawyers mistaking wordiness for winning arguments, saying he came down hard on those "who try to show how erudite they are by slipping French and Latin into their submissions".

The father of 10 was a go-to man for Governments on law reform, and chaired a consultative commission in the early 1990s.

He was a Privy Councillor and served on the Court of Appeal in Fiji.

In 2001, he was part of the panel that found the interim military government installed in Fiji after the 2000 coup was unconstitutional.