by Geoffrey Churchman

Sadly, a key member of our editorial group — Christopher Burville Ruthe — passed away last week at the age of 75.

He was born in Auckland in 1949, and raised in the then country town of Papakura, South Auckland. He had 3 siblings, Geoffrey, Susan and Philip. He attended Papakura High School and Auckland University where he completed an LLB degree before commencing practice as a lawyer in Pukekohe

At university, Christopher was the captain of the debating team who were national champions and the only team to beat Britain’s leading debating team, the Oxford Union.

Career

Christopher lived in Papua New Guinea and was a lecturer in a mining law class. He also lived in London and initially worked in the wine cellars of the Savoy before going on to Jewish law firm Thistle Altman and Co.; he was the only non-Jew to work there.

Back in NZ, Christopher worked as a barrister at the Grey Lynn community law office, run as a pilot scheme by Auckland District Law Society, taking on significant legal cases. The most significant case Christopher won was Daganayasi v. Minister of Immigration. That case is seen as the first clear statement of New Zealand administrative law that the opportunity to be heard before an adverse decision is made against you, is always to be given and it still a precedent today.

Another groundbreaking case, T v, T, included taking the status of Māori grandparents who wanted custody of their grandchildren to the Court of Appeal. Christopher argued that the court should take into account Māori culture and the role of extended family. He even enlisted the help of Sir Paul Reeves to give evidence, and they were successful.

Christopher took many cases to the Court of Appeal, the vast majority of which he won. After he and his family moved to Wellington in 1984, Christopher established Ruthe Denee & Co with partner Peter Denee. Specialising in immigration and criminal law, Christopher helped countless people through challenging times for over 20 years, often successfully reuniting families and overturning wrongful convictions.

During the leaky building crisis of the late 1990s and early 2000s Christopher adjudicated on the Weathertight Homes Tribunal. Christopher worked to resolve very complex leaky building cases where construction standards, methods and products had caused major loss and distress for homeowners.

Advocacy for mental health

Christopher was a founding member of the Kingseat Rehabilitation Committee – set up to integrate psychiatric patients back into society. Subsequently he was the Convenor of the Mental Health Review Tribunal.  A large number of decisions were published in the law reports, unheard of for a legal tribunal.  The tribunal took the view that every person had the right to control what they took into their body, and they should only be compelled to take something if there was a serious risk to themselves or the public. Medication had to be proven to have medical benefit, that is, relieve the symptoms. Drugs could not be used to sedate people whose behavior was not found acceptable.

He believed mental health problems are really neurological in nature caused by chemical imbalances and misrouting of neurotransmitters in the brain. This was validated by the great Eric Kandel, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who said mental disorders were neurological, not psychiatric.

Battler for Kapiti people

I first met Christopher in September 2016 when he was a District-wide candidate for the Council, and I was a candidate for the Waikanae ward seat. Neither of us won, but it was the beginning of a friendship. I was very impressed by what he had to say and repeated some of his statements in this post of the time. Christopher Ruthe — a good District-wide Council candidate | Waikanae Watch

He was a fierce critic of some council decision-making, like Eva and myself, and we began discussing local issues with him. Christopher was the founding Chair of Coastal Ratepayers United, which has had the best part of 1,000 members. In 2016 we also met his co-battler in CRU, Salima Padamsey and continued to discuss the issues with her, as well as with Quentin Poole.

Climatism and shore hazard lines on LIM reports wasn’t the only big issue of the last decade. Christopher was an opponent of the expensive Gateway vanity project and led the battle with numerous critiques. Eventually in early 2023 the council scrapped the Gateway, after much Ratepayer money had been wasted by the previous council.

In 2019 the then council decided save money by chopping the Kapiti Libraries’ budget for new books in half. Along with Kapiti Independent editor Alan Tristram, he formed ROBB — Restore our Book Budget! This campaign was successful.

Another grandiose project he strongly criticised was the so-called Transport Hub at Paraparaumu Station, effectively the makeover of the bus stops there. He opposed the felling of the mature pohutukawa trees and saved two of them.

He also utilised his legal and advocacy skills to support local people involved in legal skirmishes caused by the council.

As well as Council issues we talked about a variety of topics when we met for morning or afternoon teas with him. He loved classical music, was a Francophile, growing tomatoes with Tomatarians and cooking: he was a certified le Cordon Bleu chef. Needless to say, we learned a lot on these subjects.

He wrote several articles for Waikanae Watch, which can be found using the search box, both under his real name and under pen-names; these included witty and satirical pieces.

Christopher died at home from aggressive cancer on 31 October, surrounded by family members.

His funeral is on Saturday 9 November at the Kapiti Coast Funeral Home, 9/11 Hinemoa St, Paraparaumu, at 11:30 am. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Mary Potter Hospice are requested.