High Court of Australia Justices 2024

John Dyson Heydon

Justice Heydon

(born 1 March 1943)
John Dyson Heydon was appointed to the Court in February 2003, after having been a judge of the New South Wales Court of Appeal since 2000. He graduated in arts from the University of Sydney, and, as the Rhodes Scholar for New South Wales in 1964, graduated as Master of Arts and Bachelor of Civil Law from Oxford University.

He was admitted to the New South Wales Bar in 1973 and was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 1987. At age 34, he was elected dean of the University of Sydney Law School for 1978–79. He practised at the Bar from 1979 until his appointment to the Court of Appeal. He has published a number of legal texts, including his first book, The Restraint of Trade Doctrine, in 1971.