Sir John Ranken Reed CBE KC (26 December 1864 – 22 April 1955) was a New Zealand judge.
Reed was the eldest son of George McCullagh Reed, a newspaper proprietor, and Jessie Chalmers Reed (née Ranken). He was born in Ipswich, Queensland, where his father had moved to in 1861 to be the Presbyterian minister. [1] His brother was Vernon Reed. [2] He received his education at Auckland Grammar School, Dunedin High School, Victoria College, Jersey, and Clare College in the University of Cambridge, England. [3] He served his articles with Devore and Cooper in Auckland and was admitted as a barrister in June 1887. He had a practice in the Bay of Islands and relocated to Auckland in early 1896, where he joined William Thorne. [3] In 1898, Reed set up his own practice in Auckland. [4] In 1900, he took James Every Stephen Bailey into a partnership under the banner of Reed and Bailey. [4] In 1912, Roland Perceval Towle joined the partnership, and their practice was known as Reed, Bailey and Towle. [4] Bailey retired at the end of 1919 and two of the staff became partners instead, and the practice was then known as Reed, Towle, Hellaby, and Cooper. [5]
For a time, Reed was president of the Auckland Law Society. [6] Outside of the judiciary, Reed had a strong interest in military matters and in 1911, he was appointed Judge Advocate General of the New Zealand Territorial Forces. [6] In November 1912, Reed was appointed King's Counsel. [6] In February 1921, he was appointed judge to the Supreme Court; this was the first of two appointments triggered by the retirement of Justice Chapman and the resignation of Justice Cooper. [7] [8] He retired from his practice at the end of February 1921 but the name did not change as Reed's son, Mervyn Ranken Reed, carried on as one of the partners. [9] Reed was also a prominent Freemason, [6] serving as the Auckland district grand master for seven years. [10]
Reed was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (military division) in the 1919 King's Birthday Honours. [11] In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal. [12] He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 1936 King's Birthday Honours. [13]