Cambrian Chambers
Dr Noel Cox
Barrister
Areas of Expertise
Principal areas of practice – general civil litigation, public law, charities law.
Qualifications
He holds the degrees of Bachelor of Laws (LLB) University of Auckland (1988), Master of Laws (LLM) University of Auckland (1995), Master of Theology (MTheol) University of Auckland (2008), Master of Arts (MA) Archbishop of Canterbury’s Examination (2005), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) University of Auckland (2001), as well as an Licentiate of Theology (LTh) University of Wales Lampeter (2007), and Graduate Diploma in Tertiary Teaching Auckland University of Technology (2003). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) (2004), and a priest of the Church in Wales.
Academic Awards and Prizes
Visiting Fellowship, St Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge 2010
Visiting Fellowship, Wolfson College, University of Cambridge 2006
Fellow of The Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) 2004-
Visiting Fellowship, Faculty of Law, The Australian National University 2003-2004
Membership of societies, clubs and organisations
Dr Cox is a member of the following organisations: Commonwealth Lawyers Association, Legal Research Foundation, The Royal Historical Society (Fellow), The Society of Legal Scholars, The Ecclesiastical Law Society, the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, and the Centre for Law and Religion (Distinguished Academic Associate).
He has the Grand Cordon of the Royal and Hashemite Order of the Pearl of the Sultanate of Sulu (since 16 August 2011) and is Legal Advisor to the Royal House.
He was a member of the St John Cymru-Wales Council for Ceredigion, specifically as liaison and guidance officer for Aberystwyth LINKS, the division based at Aberystwyth University.
Dr Cox also had a minor role, as Councillor Riggs, in the Stephanie Linus film “Dry”.
Professional background
Member of Public Issues Committee of the Auckland District Law Society from 2003 (principal author of the papers on “International law, United Nations, and Iraq”, “The Guantanamo Bay Prisoners: Issues for New Zealand”, “Judges, Politicians, and the Constitutional Balance”, and joint author of “Has the need to counter terrorism resulted in distortions to the domestic criminal justice system?”, “Judicial Conduct”, “The Changing Legal Profession”, and “The Effect of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act on the Independent Bar”); Convener 2006-2009, 2010, and of Courts Committee 2004-2005. Member of the Council of the Auckland District Law Society 2009-2010.
Media appearances have included numerous interviews on Radio New Zealand, NewstalkZB, BBC, TV1 and TV3 (e.g. “Privileges committee likely to split along party lines: Clark”, 22 September 2008 http://www.3news.co.nz/Video/Politics/tabid/370/articleID/72599/cat/68/Default.aspx#video), on public law matters, and as convener of the Public Issues Committee.
Cases in which he played a role include (but are not limited to):
Andersen v North Shore Police [High Court; grounds for bail for reckless driving causing death, reckless driving causing injury, and driving whilst disqualified];
Andrews Property Services Ltd v Hampton Court apartment block, 182 Federal Street, Auckland, Body Corporate 161334 [High Court; breach of contract for services];
Chalmers v Police [District Court, Auckland, CRN08004018877-78; admissibility of the evidential breath test result on a charge of driving with excess breath alcohol]
Cintra Court Ltd v Detman [2002] DCR 672 [District Court; negligent assurance];
CityCorp Finance Ltd; Crosby v Taylor [High Court, CIV 2007-404-7991; use of protected company name];
Dillon v Roughan [High Court CP 404/407/99; solicitors professional negligence];
Erwood v Harley [2008] NZCA 572 [proposed appeal from CA5/04; bases for appeal from the Court of Appeal decision];
Foster v Kingsview Property Ltd [District Court Auckland 0190/99; misrepresentation prior to sale from plans of apartment complex];
Howard v Howard-Lawson [English High Court, Chancery Division, [2011] EWHC 63 (Ch), claim number HC09C02082 (Proudman J); names and arms clause, estate claim]; [Court of Appeal, Civil Division, [2012] EWCA Civ 6, A3/2011/0317, judgment delivered 19th January 2012, per Arden, Black, Kitchhin LJJ]
Pedersen v Auckland Marine Centre Ltd [1999] DCR 1003 [District Court; responsibilities of a bailee];
Powell v Police [District Court; defences to s 52 of the Land Transport Act 1998 (… “fail[ure] or refus[al] to comply with any lawful … request … by an enforcement officer …”)];
Presnell v Lumley General (NZ) Ltd [CIV 2003-004-336 High Court; evidence required to prove intoxication];
Riches v Riverhills Daycare Centre Ltd [High Court; breach of contract to buy a business];
Schubert v Schubert [2001] 1 NZLR 76, (2000) 19 FRNZ 652, [2000] NZFLR 1077 [pre-nuptial agreement and Matrimonial Property Agreement, and position of assets upon the striking off of a company];
Suh v North Shore Disputes Tribunal (2005) 17 PRNZ 732 [inconsistency between the evidence presented to the Disputes Tribunal and the pleadings and the judgement given, remitting a Disputes Tribunal case to the District Court];
Sullivan v Gordon [CIV 2003-044-2063 High Court; barring action in the Disputes Tribunal];
Walsh v Driver Projects Ltd [High Court; waiver of a condition of a contract];
Wasan International Co Ltd v Lee & Ors [Associate Judge Faire, High Court, Auckland, CIV-2003-404-004113, 19th May 2006; no contact and non-association orders in civil actions];
Webb v Rodney District Council [High Court; negligence in the issuing of an inaccurate Land Information Memorandum];
Williams v Police [High Court; grounds for an application for a mistrial in a criminal trial (disclosure of prior conviction)]
His main field of research interest is constitutional law and ecclesiastical law. His work has been published in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. He has presented conference papers in Australia, England, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United States of America, and Wales. He has taught in New Zealand, the Czech Republic, Poland and the United Kingdom.
His work was cited, inter alia, by the Court of Appeal in Ontario, in ”Black v Chretien” (2001) 199 DLR (4th) 228, and the Federal Court of Canada, in ”Copello v Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada” [2002] 3 FC 24 and ”Khadr v Canada (Attorney-General)” [2006] FC 727; [2007] 2 FCR 218, para 89; in the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, in ”Takamore v Clarke” [2011] NZCA 587 (23 November 2011) per Glazebrook J (Glazebrook, Chambers and Wild JJ) and in the Supreme Court of Canada, in ”Odhavji v Woodhouse” [2003] SCC 69, on appeal from the Court of Appeal in Ontario [2000] OR (3d) 181.
Cox was Professor of Law, and 2004-2009 Head of the Department of Law, of the Faculty of Business and Law, at the Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. He has also been a Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge (St Edmund’s College and Wolfson College) and The Australian National University. He taught for a decade at the Auckland University of Technology before moving to the United Kingdom.
From 2010 to 2014 he was Professor of Law (and Head of the Department of Law and Criminology 2010-2013) at Aberystwyth University, Wales.
Legal career
He was admitted and enrolled as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand 1988, admitted and enrolled as a Legal Practitioner of the Supreme Court of New South Wales 1999, admitted as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Tasmania 1999, registered as a Practitioner of the Supreme Court of South Australia 1999, registered as a Legal Practitioner of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory 2001, admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria 2004, admitted as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Queensland 2004, and registered as a Legal Practitioner of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory 2004. He was admitted as a Barrister-at-Law by the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple 2011.
He was also Convener of the Auckland District Law Society Public Issues Committee, and has commented in the media on legal matters, especially constitutional law questions.
In 2007 he was appointed a consultant by the World Bank to review the disciplinary processes for the Kenyan Bar.
Church life
Cox was ordained a deacon in St David’s Cathedral 30 June 2012, and served his title in the diocese as Non-stipendiary Assistant Curate in St Padarn’s Church, Llanbadarn Fawr (since 2013, in the Grouped Benefice of Llanbadarn Fawr and Elerch and Penrhyncoch and Capel Bangor. Cox was ordained a priest 29 June 2013.
Publications
His major publications include:
Technology and Legal Systems (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, Aldershot, 2006; ISBN 978-075-464-544-3) 267 pages;
Church and State in the Post-Colonial Era: The Anglican Church and the Constitution in New Zealand (Polygraphia (NZ) Ltd, Auckland, 2008; ISBN 978-1-877-33260-9) 338 pages;
Constitutional paradigms and the stability of states (Ashgate Publishing Ltd, Farnham, 2012; ISBN 978-0-7546-7920-2) 306 pages.
The Enforcement of Professional Ethics and Standards in the Kenyan Legal Profession with Tom Odhiambo Ojienda (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013; ISBN 978-1-4942-4528-3) 274 pages;
In addition, he is the author of some 56 refereed journal articles, 20 book chapters, and over 150 other articles. The works are in the fields of constitutional law, legal history and ecclesiastical law.
Contact details
c/o 16 William Blofield Avenue,
Mount Roskill,
Auckland 1041
Ph: 020-4079-4554
email: noel.cox34@gmail.com
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