Michael Hardie Boys

Sir Michael Hardie Boys, (6 October 1931 – 29 December 2023) was a New Zealand lawyer, judge and jurist who served as the 17th Governor-General of New Zealand, in office from 1996 to 2001.

Hardie Boys was born in 1931 in Wellington, the son of Edith May (née Bennett) and Reginald Hardie Boys (1903–1970), a lawyer and later judge of the Supreme Court.

After his schooling at Hataitai School and Wellington College, Hardie Boys gained a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from Victoria University College in 1954.

Hardie Boys married Mary Zohrab, a great-granddaughter of Octavius Hadfield, in 1957.

They had two sons and two daughters.

A lawyer by profession, Hardie Boys was a partner in his father's law firm; this became Scott Hardie Boys & Morrison.

He was on the council of the Wellington District Court Law Society (1973–1979) before he became its president in 1979.

He was on the council of the New Zealand Law Society (1976–1979).

For the New Zealand Law Society, he served on the Legal Aid Board before appointed its chairman in 1978.

Hardie Boys became a judge of the High Court of New Zealand in 1980 (prior to 1980, the name was Supreme Court, i.e. he sat in the same court that his father had).

In 1989, he was elevated to the Court of Appeal, and was appointed a Privy Counsellor.

In 1994, he was elected as an Honorary Bencher at Gray's Inn, and in 1995 became an Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge.

He was also a visiting fellow at Wolfson.

In the 1996 New Year Honours, Hardie Boys was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George.

On 21 March 1996, Hardie Boys was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand on the advice of Prime Minister Jim Bolger, as the Governor-General of New Zealand.

As the 1996 New Zealand general election would be the first mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) election, the appointment of a lawyer with an understanding of constitutional law was desirable.

Bolger had notified all leaders of parties then represented in parliament, to ensure broad cross-party support.

At subsequent appointments, other party leaders are only notified very shortly before the announcement is made, if at all.

In the 1996 Queen's Birthday Honours, Hardie Boys was the first person appointed a Knight Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

He was also appointed a Knight of the Order of St John of Jerusalem in April 1996.

As governor-general, Hardie Boys had constitutional, ceremonial and community functions as per New Zealand's conventions.

The constitutional duties involved summoning parliament at the beginning of each parliamentary session, delivering the prime minister's speech from the throne as part of these openings, the signing of bills that had been passed by parliament into law.

Ceremonial duties included bestowing royal honours, and to prorogue parliament at the end of its term.

Ceremonial duties included acting as patron for many of the country's societies.

During Hardie Boys' term, controversy ensued in 1996 when he stated his opposition to Minister of Youth Affairs Deborah Morris's suggestion that young people have access to contraceptives.

Upon the completion of his term on 21 March 2001, Sir Michael and Lady Hardie Boys were both appointed additional Companions of the Queen's Service Order.

Later, in 2001, further controversy arose when he made an implied attack on the Clark Labour Government's scrapping of the air defence wing of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

After his retirement as Governor-General of New Zealand, Hardie Boys served as a judge of the Kiribati Court of Appeal.

He lived in retirement at Waikanae, where he helped out at Kapanui School's literacy programme.

In 2004, Hardie Boys stated his opposition to New Zealand becoming a republic, stating in an interview: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Hardie Boys died in Waikanae on 29 December 2023, at the age of 92.