Bruce Harris is a stalwart of the New Zealand legal community and epitomises the very best of legal academia. His dedication to teaching in his 23 years at the University of Auckland, in addition to his previous tenure at the University of Otago, has inspired hundreds of lawyers, especially those who have completed his legendary public law honours seminar. His research has sparked new fields of scholarly inquiry from republicanism to judicial conduct, and his suggestion of the ‘third source of executive power’ has been cited and developed in judicial decisions across the Commonwealth. His administrative service – as dean, university councillor and work with the New Zealand Vice Chancellors’ Committee – has been influential and prolific.

But more than a list of achievements, Bruce's career has been marked by remarkable kindness and dedication to his students and colleagues. Anyone who has met Bruce will know of his extraordinarily calm, patient and inclusive approach. Colleagues at both Auckland and Otago universities credit him with making the faculty lounge a warmer place to be. In emails and in person, he insisted on referring to his undergraduate honours students as his ‘colleagues’. But his calm and cordial manner has never been a barrier to passion when necessary. Bruce was known as a champion of student and staffwelfare in boThthe law school and the university at large and was never afraid to speak out against corporatising governance reforms. In class there were certain topics – the Kerr/Whitlam saga, the Saxmere cases, and Henry VIII clauses – which sparked his righteous indignation. and Bruce's career has also been marked by a quiet but mischievous humour. His public law honours seminars were full of quips and witty critiques, and he encouraged a spirit of jovial camaraderie. WiTha glint in his eye and deadpan demeanour, he was known for bringing a box of fried chicken to class to illustrate aspects of contract law, or an antique model of the Queen to explain his theory of the third source. He seems to take joy in eliciting surprised reactions to the unexpected.

Bruce's academic work is impressive in both substance and depth. But the breadth and method of his scholarship is equally impressive. Bruce sees public law as a system and avoids the tendency to think too narrowly in terms of administrative law, human rights, or Te Tiriti o Waitangi: for Bruce, no subfield can make sense detached from another.

No doubt there are many different markers of success for an academic career. If pressed to articulate some of them, many of us might point to one or more of these common standards for intellectual achievement: breadth and depth of scholarship, engagement from critics and interlocutors, development of novel ideas and avenues for research, and perhaps the everyday usefulness to society of one's intellectual contribution.

Bruce Harris's academic career has more than seen these standards met. He is expert in New Zealand public law, having taught and published in the field for more than 40 years. Harris graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree (with Honours) from the University of Otago in 1974 and a Master of Laws degree from Harvard University in 1975. He was admitted as a barrister and solicitor the following year, and spent two years in practice with a focus on resource management law (a focus reflected in his early academic work). Harris then returned to the University of Otago Faculty of Law where he would teach and research for the next 17 years, before moving to join the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland in 1994. His commitment to faculty life saw him appointed Dean of Law at each of those two proud universities during his tenure. and, of course, a number of academic accolades have followed, including the Sir Ian Barker Prize for Best Published Article in 2007, and the conferral of a Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Otago in 2012.

In terms of scholastic output, the culmination of Harris's expertise and experience was the publication of New Zealand Constitution: An Analysis in Terms of Principles, which provides a comprehensive yet highly accessible account of how New Zealand's constitution operates. It also reflects Harris's highly pragmatic style of public law scholarship, which strips the law of pretence while somehow losing very little of its nuance. One colleague noted not long after its publication that it deserved to sit alongside the Cabinet Manual as an essential resource for all new Members of Parliament. Experience already tells us that a number of law students also now rely on it as a first port of call when examining constitutional issues for the first time.