JUDICIARY The Chief Justice retires

Jeremy Gauntlett se Cape Bar

HE Hon Mr Justice MM Corbett sion to the University of Cape is expected to step down as the Town. He commenced a BA de­ Tsixteenth Chief Justice ofthe Re­ gree. On turning 18 later in 1941, public of later this year. he proceeded to enlist. He has served in that office since 1Feb­ Commissioned in the South Af­ ruary 1989, in the Appellate Division rican Tank Corps, Lt MM Corbett since 1979, and as a judge since 1963. transferred to the First Royal Na­ He would ordinarily have retired (on the tal Carbineers and proceeded to attainment of what Holmes, JA has en­ Italy as part of the Sixth South gagingly termed the age of statutory se­ African Armoured Division, to nility) on 14 September 1993. On 10 take part in the campaign by the February 1993, however, the then State Eighth Army of the Allied Forces. President, Mr FW de Klerk, announced He was injured after the capture of (after consultation with opposition Rome and Florence, and boarded groupings in South Africa) that the out of the army in May 1945. He Chief Justice had accepted an invitation immediately resumed his LLB de­ to continue in office. His confirmation gree at the University of Cape was welcomed by Mr NR Mandela, then Town. He went to Cambridge in leader of the ANC, "particularly given October 1946, obtaining a first the wide respect and confidence he en­ class in the Law Tripos, whereaf­ joys". The then Democratic Party spokes­ ter he read for the LLB degree, in man on justice, Mr Tony Leon, referred which he also obtained a first (in to the qualities of the Chief Justice nec­ 1948). essary "to bridge the great divide between On 5 November 1948, MM the old legal and constitutional order and Corbett joined the Cape Bar. He Chief Justice MM Corbett the new". was very active as a junior counsel The extension was initially for one and university law lecturer, and also year. It was however announced by the found time for involvement in the work Division. In 1964 his appointment was Minister of Justice on 5 June 1994 that of the War Veterans' Torch Commando confirmed. He commenced acting as a the incoming government had re­ in its opposition to authoritarian trends judge of appeal in the Appellate Divi­ quested Chief Justice Corbett to accept in the post -1948 order. He was a repre­ sion in August 1970, and on 1 June a further extension of his period of of­ sentative of the Cape Western region. 1974, he was appointed a permanent fice until 31 December 1996. The citation to his LLD honoris causa member of the Appellate Division. degree of the University of The early years in 1982 (one of his five such honorary The judge Chief Justice Corbett was born in Pre­ doctorates in law by South African uni­ In his 25 years on the Appellate Divi­ toria on 14 September 1923. His fa­ versities, with a sixth shortly to follow) sion, Corbett JA and then CJ has con­ ther became Commissioner for Inland records that a monograph written by him tributed a large number of decisions Revenue in 1929 and had to commute in 1942, The Truth about the Constitu­ which have re-fashioned our law: from trom to Cape Town during the tional Crisis, "gives an exquisitely clear prisoners' rights to the right to be heard Parliamentary session. As a conse­ account of the circumstances surround­ in administrative law, to income taxa­ quence, the young MM Corbett went ing the assault on the entrenched clauses tion and intricate issues in company to' school in Cape Town where he ma­ of the South African Constitution". law, the law of contract and the law of triculated at the age of just 16 in De­ MM Corbett took silk in 1960 at the delict. cember 1939. In view of his age, he age of 37. On 1 February 1963, when At the end of 1986, MM Corbett was could not enlist for military service as only 39 years of age, he was appointed due to succeed the Hon Mr Justice PJ he wished, and instead secured admis­ an acting judge of the Cape Provincial Rabie as Chief Justice (when the latter

94 CONSULTUS, NOVEMBER 1996 JUDICIARY

reached the statutory retirement age of in my view displayed all the quali­ mocracy, he has borne the heavy ad­ 70). In circumstances which have ties which I have described. He has ministrative and legal burdens of Chief never been fully explained, it was how­ earned the highest tribute. He is a Justice of the Republic of South Africa. ever evidently decided by the govern­ great judge". His career and person personify the ment of the day not to appoint MM Similarly, the late Mr RS Welsh QC adherence to legal values through the Corbett as Chief Justice, but to require writing of MM Corbett and his illus­ darkest days of repression and his un­ Mr Justice Rabie to continue as "Act­ trious predecessor, Sir James Rose swerving commitment to judicial ex­ ing Chief Justice" for two additional Innes (the second Chief Justice of South cellence in the future. years (which coincided with the height Africa), wrote this in 1994: Perhaps his most striking character­ of the states of emergency, and the le­ "If he [Innes] were alive today, I istic as a judge has been his ability to gal challenges to it). think he would be glad to know that, balance detachment and understand­ In 1979, at a time when it was con­ despite all the disruption which we ing. He has always been punctilious sidered inappropriate by the then or­ are experiencing, there is at least a in his control of detail, undistracted and der to do so, MM Corbett addressed the hope that this country may be purged exact: the gift of clear thinking, as one Human Rights Conference at the Uni­ of racial discrimination. And if Innes of his colleagues put it in a recent trib­ versity of Cape Town, and spoke out were alive today and could meet his ute. But his rigour has never been at with remarkable clarity and courage of present successor, I am quite sure the cost of a feel for the true inward­ the need for a new legal order based on that they would have much to say to ness of a case and the needs of the law. human rights. His views in this regard each other and much in common, for It was said of Harold Macmillan that have imbued a number of his judg­ they were cast in the same mould". he could silence the House of Commons ments. His achievements as a judge with the single droop of a melancholy are the subject of detailed legal analy­ Characteristics eyelid. Corbett has this gift too. As sis by Professor Ellison Kahn in his au­ Corbett is generally recognised as one measured and unaffected as his prose, tobiographical chapter in a book of of the finest judges this country has ever his dignity has always pervaded his essays in honour of MM Corbett, The produced. Shortly before his death, that court, and implicitly required no less Quest for Justice (1995). Other trib­ dyspeptic observer of the Appellate Di­ of others. utes are to be found in this work. Per­ vision, Professor JC de Wet, remarked Innes wrote in his autobiography of a haps their content and tone are best that he thought Corbett probably the belief in intellectual and spiritual hon­ captured in this summary by Lord best judge since Innes. He has been an esty, and duty for duty's sake. The Bar Steyn, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, outstanding legal scholar, writer, ad­ will miss the Chief Justice for both. But (who had himself been a colleague of vocate and judicial officer. For over it would be wrong to bid too comprehen­ Corbett at the Cape Bar): three decacJes, he has sought to uphold sive a farewell: he still plays tennis; he "In more than thirty years as ajudge the most important legal values which will be active in retirement; and if pater­ of the first Instance, a member of the imbue constitutionalism. In recent nal genes are determinative, we may look Appeal Court and eventually as years, marked by exhausting commit­ forward to another 22 years of his be­ Chief Justice, Michael Corbett has ments related to the transition to de­ nign influence in our legal life. W

Nuwe hoofregter

ET die ter perse gaan van Consultus is aangekondig Mdat regter met ingang Januarie 1997 aangestel is as die nuwe hoofregter van Su id-Afrika. Consultus wil regter Mahomed van harte met die aanstelling gelukwens. 'n VQlledige oorsig van sy loopbaan word in die volgende uitgawe gepubliseer.

Regter Ismail Mahomed

NOVEMBER 1996, CONSULTUS 95