Sir John Greig Latham GCMG PC QC (26 August 1877 – 25 July 1964) was an Australian lawyer, politician, and judge who served as the fifth Chief Justice of Australia, in office from 1935 to 1952.

He got on better with Hughes' successor Stanley Bruce, and formally joined the Nationalist Party in 1925, subsequently winning promotion to cabinet as Attorney-General.

Despite the Nationalists forming a larger proportion of the new party, he relinquished the leadership to Lyons, a better campaigner, thus becoming the first opposition leader to fail to contest a general election.

[1] His paternal grandfather, Thomas Latham, was an attorney's clerk who was transported to Australia as a convict in 1848 for obtaining money under false pretences, and later worked as an accountant.

[3] Latham's father was a tinsmith by profession, but "preferred benevolent work over a comfortable salary" and became a long-serving secretary of the Victorian Society for the Protection of Animals.

[1] Latham accompanied navy minister Joseph Cook to London in 1918, assisting him at Imperial War Cabinet meetings and later in his role on the Commission on Czechoslovak Affairs at the Versailles Peace Conference.

In 1920, Latham appeared before the High Court representing the State of Victoria in the famous Engineers' case, alongside such people as Dr H.V.

He received the endorsement of the newly created Liberal Union, "a coalition of Nationalist Party defectors and people opposed to socialism and Hughes".

[9] The 1922 election resulted in a hung parliament, with Latham siding with the Country Party to force Hughes' resignation as prime minister in favour of S. M.

Additionally, the affable Lyons was seen as much more electorally appealing than the aloof Latham, especially given that the UAP's primary goal was to win over natural Labor constituencies to what was still, at bottom, an upper- and middle-class conservative party.

Future ALP leader Arthur Calwell wrote in his autobiography, Be Just and Fear Not, that by standing aside in favour of Lyons, Latham knew he was giving up a chance to become prime minister.

During the Manchurian Crisis and subsequent Japanese invasion of Manchuria, he and Lyons avoided making public statements on the matter and the government adopted a policy of non-alignment in the conflict.

In meetings with Japanese foreign minister Kōki Hirota he unsuccessfully attempted to convince Japan to remain within the League of Nations.

The mission, which visited seven territories but concentrated on China, Japan and the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia), has been identified as a milestone in the early development of Australian foreign policy.

[20] Latham publicly identified the mission as one of "friendship and goodwill", but also compiled a series of secret reports to cabinet on economic and strategic matters.

[21] On his return, Latham successfully advocated in cabinet for the appointment of trade commissioners in Asia, where previously Australia had been represented by British officials.

Latham offered advice on political matters – frequently unsolicited – to several prime ministers and other senior government figures.

[26] According to Fiona Wheeler, there was no direct evidence that Latham's political views interfered with his judicial reasoning, but "the mere appearance of partiality is enough for concern" and could have been difficult to refute if uncovered.

"[27] Although Latham emphasised the need for secrecy to the recipients of his letters, he retained copies of most of them in his personal papers, apparently unconcerned that they could be discovered and analysed after his death.

[28] Nonetheless, "many instances of Latham's advising [...] would today be regarded as clear affronts to basic standards of judicial independence and propriety".

He was also a prominent campaigner for Australian literature, being part of the editorial board of The Trident, a small liberal journal, which was edited by Walter Murdoch.