We have been informed that Master Keith (The Right Honourable Sir Kenneth Keith ONZ KBE PC KC) sadly died on 13 May, aged 88.

Master Keith was admitted to the New Zealand Bar in 1961 and took silk in 1994. He was a leading authority on international and constitutional law. He taught in Victoria University's Faculty of Law from 1966 to 1991, rising to full Professor in 1974 and serving as Dean from 1977 to 1981. He served on New Zealand's High Court and Court of Appeal from 1996, and was one of five inaugural judges appointed to New Zealand's Supreme Court in 2004. He was the first and remains the only New Zealander to serve as a judge on the International Court of Justice, where he sat from 2006 for nine years. He also sat on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

He was elected a Governing Bencher of the Inn in 2007.

The Inn's flag will fly at half-mast in his memory on Wednesday, 27 May 2026.

A funeral service was held at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul at 11 a.m. on Monday, 18 May, followed by a private family burial. Donations in his memory may be made to the Victoria University of Wellington Student Hardship Fund at wgtn.ac.nz/engage/giving/donate/areas-archived/winter-hardship-appeal-donate.