Eddie Durie

The Honourable Sir Eddie Durie KNZM
Durie in 2008
Justice of the High Court
In office 1998–2004
Personal details
Born	Edward Taihakurei Durie (1940-01-18) 18 January 1940 (age 84)
Spouse	Donna Hall
Children	1

Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie KNZM (born 18 January 1940) is a New Zealand jurist who served on the High Court of New Zealand between 1998 and 2004. He was the first Māori appointed a judge of a New Zealand court.

Durie graduated with a BA and an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1964.

Durie was appointed a judge in 1974 and then was the Chief Judge of the Māori Land Court from 1980–1998, Chairman of the Waitangi Tribunal from 1980–2004, and a Law Commissioner. In 1998 he was appointed to the High Court of New Zealand. He retired from the High Court in 2004, at which point he was the longest-serving member of the New Zealand judiciary.^[1][2]

In 2009, Durie was appointed by Attorney-General Chris Finlayson to chair the Ministerial taskforce on the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004.^[3]

In 2012, Durie was elected to the Maori Council and elected co-chair, a role he held until being appointed the sole chair of the national body in April 2016.^[4]

In 1977, Durie was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, and in 1990 he received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.^[5] In the 2008 New Year Honours, Durie was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the Maori Land Court, Waitangi Tribunal and High Court of New Zealand.^[6] In 2009, following the reinstatement of titular honours by the New Zealand government, he accepted redesignation as a Knight Companion of New Zealand Order of Merit.^[7]

Durie holds honorary doctorates from Victoria University of Wellington,^[8] Massey University^[9] and the University of Waikato.^[10]

Durie is of Rangitāne, Ngāti Kauwhata and Ngāti Raukawa descent. The community leader John Mason Durie (1889–1971) was his grandfather,^[11] and he is the younger brother of Māori academic, Professor Sir Mason Durie. Durie is married to lawyer Donna Hall who operates a law firm, Woodward, from their home in Lower Hutt.^{[citation needed]}

On 13 April 2002, Durie's 8-month-old adopted daughter Kahurautete ('Kahu') was kidnapped at gunpoint in Lower Hutt and held for $3 million ransom.^[12] Kahu was found by police eight days later, 360 kilometres (220 mi) away in Taumarunui.^[13] The kidnapper was sentenced to eleven years imprisonment and released after serving seven years.^[14] The kidnapping was the subject of the 2010 film Stolen: The Baby Kahu Story in which Eddie Durie was played by George Henare.^[15]