Elizabeth Evatt

Elizabeth Andreas Evatt, AC ( born November 11, 1933, Sydney ) is an Australian lawyer. She was 1976-1988, the first chairman of the Family Court of Australia, the highest court in Australian family law matters.

Family and Education

Evatt was born as the daughter of a politician Clive Evatt and his wife Marjorie Hannah Andreas. She had two brothers and a sister. My paternal grandfather was an Australian entrepreneur Harry Andreas. Besides her father was also her paternal uncle, Herbert Vere Evatt, active in politics. Your education received Evatt at Presbyterian Ladies' College, Pymble. After her graduation she went on to study at the University of Sydney. She was previously the youngest student at the university. She graduated in 1955 with a Bachelor of Law and became the first woman to medal at the University of Law. That same year, Evatt was admitted to the bar in New South Wales and then went for a one-year study abroad at Harvard University, where she was awarded the 1956 Master of Laws.

Professional career

Once admitted to the Bar at the Inner Temple Evatt worked as a barrister in London and was also active in the library of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. She became a member of the English Law Commission in 1968 and specialized headed by Leslie Scarman, Baron Scarman on issues of family law. 1973 Evatt returned back to their homeland and became the first woman deputy chairman of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission, a position she held until 1989. At the same time they took between 1974 and 1977 presided over a parliamentary inquiry committee, which dealt with issues of family life, abortion, contraception and issues of family law. From the work of this Committee the adoption of the Family Law Act 1975 which not only the Australian divorce law resulted fundamentally reformed, but also the Family Court of Australia was established as the highest federal court for matters of family law. Evatt was appointed its first chairman Judge 1976. This position she held until 1988. Then she became President in the Australian Law Reform Commission, where she mainly dealt with issues to 1993 gender equality. During her work as a judge, she took on an international level true legal tasks. So they belonged from 1984 to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, chaired position she held from 1989 to 1991. 1992 Evatt was elected as the first Australian in the UN Human Rights Committee, to which it belonged until 2000. From 1998 to 2007 she was a member of the Administrative Tribunal of the World Bank. Evatt has always been a defender of human rights and protection of minorities. So it was about 1995, commissioned by John Herron, a member of the Australian Senate, with the review of laws for the protection of the Aborigines. Again and again she also criticized the lack of protection of women's rights by the Australian legislation. Evatt 2006 included among the signatories of the Yogyakarta Principles. Also honorary she is involved in many cases. So it was between 1988 and 1994, Chancellor of the University of Newcastle and was elected to the International Commission of Jurists, 2003.

Awards

On June 14, 1982 Evatt of Elizabeth II an Officer of the Order of Australia on 12 June 1995 and was elevated to Companion and thus in the highest religious class. 1985 awarded her their alma mater the honorary doctorate and 1994 they honored the Flinders University in the same way.

Publications (selection )

• The international covenant on civil and political rights: cases, materials, and commentary. 2nd edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2011, ISBN 978-0-19-928541-9.
• Women and Human Rights. In Monash University law review. 28 (2002), No. 1, ISSN 0311-3140, pp. 1-16.
• How Australia " supports " the United Nations human rights treaty System. In: Public law review. 12 (2001), No. 1, ISSN 1034-3024, pp. 3-8.