Country's longest serving judge signs off

A mystery over the sudden disappearance of a New Zealand Coat of Arms from outside the old Hastings Courthouse was resolved in Napier District Court on Friday when one of the country's top judges admitted he had it.
But there won't be any charges after the confession, made by principal Family Court judge Peter Boshier in front of about 20 other judges at a farewell to the longest serving of New Zealand's 148 District and Family court judges, Paul von Dadelszen.
The judicial boss thought it was fitting that the weighty crest should go to the departing veteran, retiring at 70, with more than a third of his life served as a judge since being sworn in on November 27, 1987.
Appointed first to sit in Palmerston North, having to uproot the family from Havelock North, much of his time as a barrister and a judge had been spent in the old Hastings courthouse, particularly since 1996 when he was made Hawke's Bay's first resident Family Court judge.
Judge Boshier, who now becomes the longest serving judge, said the crest adorned the old courthouse's Eastbourne St entrance since the building was opened in 1972, including the 19 months since a state-of-the-art replacement next door opened in October 2009.
He said when he walked past about a week ago, he couldn't help but notice how forlorn it looked.
Deciding there was a better use for it, he said Judge von Dadelszen could do whatever he liked with it "apart from selling it on Trade Me".
Raised in Hawke's Bay and the son of a barrister, Judge von Dadelszen was admitted to the bar in 1965, joining Bannister von Dadelszen, which his father had established in Hastings in 1938.
Despite his farewell he isn't quite finished with his career on the bench. He has accepted a warrant, which will see him back in court in a relieving capacity. He couldn't guarantee that would go past the end of this year, but it should see him complete 24 years as a judge.
Before a packed gallery which included Justice John Wild of the Court of Appeal, and retired Justice Rod Gallen, valedictories were delivered by acting solicitor general Cheryl Gwynn, senior Hawke's Bay District Court judge Geoff Rea, Law Society Hawke's Bay branch representative Jonathan Krebs, and Family Law Section representative Ingrid Squire.
Judge von Dadelszen's daughter and Wellington lawyer, Charlotte, spoke on behalf of the family, before Judge Boshier handed the moment to her father.
Referred to by Judge Boshier as a "truly great judge" and lauded by others for his roles in helping rewrite family court law and procedures, Judge von Dadelszen raised a few of his hobby horses.
He wondered about the further rewriting of law to deal better with the effects of the breakdown of the nuclear family in the community and talked of New Zealand being too small a country "to go on appointing more and more judges to cope with the ever-increasing workload".
Judge Peter Callinicos, a former Napier lawyer who has been a Family Court judge based in Whanganui since 2002, was also at the farewell, and returns to Hawke's Bay to replace Judge von Dadelszen.