CONFIDENTIAL
Item 2
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Sucsessor to Sir Michael Hogan, Chief Justice
The Governor said that he would rather recommend
Mr. Justice Blair-Kerr but felt that unless there were exceptionally good reasons for preferring him to the Senior Judge, Sir Ivo Rigby, the impression would be given that a capricious decision to promote a junior had been taken. He would not expect there to be too strong adverse reaction outside the Legal and Judicial Service to the appointment of Mr. Blair-Kerr, although the Bar might well, for their own reasons, prefer the appointment of Sir Ivo Rigby. But members of the Judicial and Legal Services would probably think that a decision against the senior man had been made on the unprofessional judgment of "outsiders". Sir Ivo Rigby would be able to say that he had acted as Chief Justice on a number of occasions without incurring criticism.
2. Sir James McPetrie did not think that Sir Ivo Rigby's colleagues who knew his limitations, would be in much doubt why he had been passed over. Nor did he expect that they would feel that he had been unjustly treated. It was true that Sir Ivo Rigby had acted as Chief Justice but this was not the same thing as a permanent appointment. He agreed that some members of the Bar might prefer the appointment of Sir Ivo Rigby but the abler members of the Bar might even prefer to see the appointment of the better lawyer. He appreciated the claims of seniority but thought that invariable attachment to seniority was dangerous. Sir Ivo Rigby's confidential reports had indicated since 1966 that he would not be an ideal Chief Justice. It had to be remembered that the appointment would be for more than three years during which time the public interest could suffer seriously from the promotion of an unsuitable Chief Justice. He quoted from confidential reports on Sir Ivo Rigby pointing out how observations which implied criticism on a number of important counts had built up to the outright statement in the 1969 report that "he was probably better suited to a Court of Appeal than to be the Chief Justice".
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CONFIDENTIAL