Charles Reed Laws

Charles Reed Laws
Born	21 January 1894
Died	25 February 1985(1985-02-25) (aged 91)
Scientific career
Fields	Geology, malacology

Charles Reed Laws (21 January 1894 – 25 February 1985) was a New Zealand geologist and malacologist, known for his work studying micromolluscs of New Zealand.

Laws was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 21 January 1894.^[1] His father was Methodist reverend Charles Henry Laws.^[2][3] He was educated at Christchurch and Dunedin, and attended Christchurch Boys' High School.^[1] After two years at high school, Laws left in order to become a teacher himself.^[1] During World War I, Laws became a sergeant of the 12th Reinforcements in Egypt and France.^[1] He later studied at Auckland Training College and Auckland University College, beginning to teach at primary schools in 1921.^[1] He completed his Bachelor of Science at Auckland University College in 1922, and in 1925, he became the second person to complete a thesis on geology at Auckland University College, winning the Julius von Haast Prize, awarded by the University of London.^[4][1][5]

From 1929 to 1931, Laws became a lecturer in geography at Dunedin Teachers' Training College, which he followed by being the Lecturer in Geography and Natural Science at Auckland Training College from 1932 to 1946.^[1] In 1946, he left to become the senior lecturer in geology at Auckland University College.^[1] Laws became acting head of geology in 1949 after the death of Arthur Bartrum.^[3]

Laws was encouraged to study malacology by paleontologists Harold Finlay and John Marwick.^[6] During the 1930s and 1940s, Laws became an authority on the gastropod family Pyramidellidae, publishing 122 new descriptions for species within this family.^[4] Laws was also involved in major fossil finding expeditions at Kaawa Creek and Pakaurangi Point.^[4] In recognition of his work, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1950.^[6]

Laws retired in 1959, after which he dedicated his life to spending time with family and his hobbies, including rose gardening.^[4][1]

In 1921 Laws married Evelyn Katie Lee. Together they had twin daughters in 1925 and a son in 1933.^[6] Laws' daughter Jocelyn was friends with his student Hope Sanderson (the first woman to graduate with a MSc with Honours in Geology in New Zealand), who she accompanied on a trip to England.^[7]

• C R Laws (1934). "New Tertiary Mollusca from Timaru District, South Canterbury, New Zealand" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 63: 315–329. ISSN 1176-6158. Wikidata Q89182259.
• C R Laws (1936). "The Genus Erato in the Tertiary of New Zealand" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 65: 17–22. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182325.
• C R Laws (1936). "New Eocene Mollusca from New Zealand" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 65: 23–29. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182327.
• C R Laws (1936). "New Tertiary Mollusca from New Zealand—No. 3" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 65: 30–43. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182329.
• C R Laws (1937). "The Waitotaran Faunule at Kaawa Creek—Part I" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 66: 38–59. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182376.
• C R Laws (1937). "The Waitotaran Faunule at Kaawa Creek, Part 2" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 66: 99–124. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182383.
• C R Laws (1937). "Review of the Tertiary and Recent Neozelanic Pyramidellid Molluscs" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 66: 402–422. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182421.
• D Sc C. R. Laws (1938). "A Review of the Tertiary and Recent Neozelanic Pyramidellid Molluscs No. 2—The Genus Chemnitzia" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 67: 47–70. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182430.
• C R Laws (1938). "Review of the Tertiary and Recent Neozelanic Pyramidellid Molluscs. No. 3—Further Turbonillid Genera" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 67: 166–184. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182446.
• C R Laws (1938). "Review of the Tertiary and Recent Neozelanic Pyramidellid Molluscs. No. 4—The Syrnolid Genera" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 67: 303–315. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182456.
• C R Laws (1938). "A Review of the Tertiary and Recent Neozelanic Pyramidellid Molluscs. No. 5—The Eulimellid Genera" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 68: 51–59. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182484.
• C R Laws (1938). "The Molluscan Faunule at Pakaurangi Point, Kaipara—No. 1" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand (in French). 68: 466–503. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182524.
• C R Laws (1940). "A Review of the Tertiary and Recent Neozelanic Pyramidellid Molluscs. No. 6—The Genus Odostomia" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 69: 191–209. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182544.
• C R Laws; Sc (1940). "The Waitotaran Faunule at Kaawa Creek—Part 3" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 69: 427–447. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182576.
• C R Laws (1940). "Palaeontological Study of Nukumaruan and Waitotaran Rocks near Wanganui" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 70: 34–56. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182583.
• C R Laws (1940). "A Review of the Tertiary and Recent Neozelanic Pyramidellid Molluscs. No. 7—Further Odostomid Genera" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 70: 150–160. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182595.
• C R Laws (1942). "Review of the Tertiary and Recent Neozelanic Pyramidellid Molluscs.No. 8—The Pyrgulinid Genera And The Genus Evalea" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 71: 6–22. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182616.
• C R Laws (1942). "The Molluscan Faunule at Pakaurangi Point, Kaipara. No. 2" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand (in French). 71: 134–151. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182631.
• C R Laws (1943). "The Molluscan Faunule at Pakaurangi Point, Kaipara.—No. 3" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand (in French). 73: 297–312. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182755.
• C R Laws (September 1947). "Tertiary Mollusca from Hokianga District, North Auckland" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 76: 537–541. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182942.
• C R Laws (1948). "Further Tertiary Mollusca from Hokianga District, North Auckland" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 77: 142–150. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182969.
• C R Laws (1948). "A New Fossil Cirrepede from New Zealand Miocene Beds" (PDF). Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 77: 151–152. ISSN 1176-6166. Wikidata Q89182970.
• R. K. Dell; C. A. Fleming; C. R. Laws; J. Marwick; A. W. B. Powell (1952). "Proposed use of the plenary powers to conserve specific trivial names of New Zealand mollusca published in Thomas Martyn's "Universal Conchologist" (1784:)". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 6: 273–277. doi:10.5962/BHL.PART.16056. ISSN 0007-5167. Wikidata Q43376979.