David Smith (judge)

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Sir David Stanley Smith (11 February 1888 – 29 December 1982) was a New Zealand lawyer, judge and educationalist. Born in Dunedin, he began his legal career as an assistant to Charles Morison in 1912. He became a Supreme Court judge in 1928, noted for his work as counsel for Maori land claims. He was knighted in 1948, and soon after resigned from the bench to focus on public affairs. In 1953 he received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. Smith helped run higher education, serving on the Victoria University College Council (1939–1945) and as chancellor of the University of New Zealand in 1945. He received honorary doctorates from Oxford (1948) and the University of New Zealand (1961). He died in Wellington in 1982 and was buried at Karori Cemetery. His daughter Shirley Smith became a lawyer.