Attorney-General expresses sorrow at passing of Professor Michael Taggart

Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson expressed his sincere condolences to the family of Professor Michael Taggart, who passed away yesterday after battling illness for over a year.

"Mike Taggart was a first rate lawyer and scholar, and a man of rare personal qualities," Mr Finlayson said. "I served with him on the New Zealand Council of Legal Education. He was respected throughout the legal profession and beyond."

"He was acknowledged internationally as an expert in administrative law, and will be remembered by his former students as an inspirational teacher of the law."

"My deepest sympathies go out to his family."

He was named a Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of the Humanities (FNZAH) in 2008, and received numerous teaching awards.

Professor Taggart was the inaugural holder of the Alexander Turner Chair in Law at the University of Auckland's Faculty of Law. A graduate of Auckland and Harvard universities, he began his teaching career at the University of West Ontario in 1980 before returning to Auckland in 1982, where he later became the youngest full professor in New Zealand history at the time.

Professor Taggart was Dean of the faculty from 1992 to 1995. He taught until his retirement in 2008 for health reasons.

He was the author of numerous academic works. He was honoured by a "Festschrift" - a collection of essays written by several authors to honour a distinguished jurist - published earlier this year, entitled "A Simple Common Lawyer".