Arthur Chaskalson

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Arthur Chaskalson, (born November 24, 1931) is a former President of the Constitutional Court of South Africa (1994–2001) and Chief Justice of South Africa (2001–2005). Born in Johannesburg, Chaskalson graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand with a BCom (1952) and LLB Cum Laude (1954).

Career

In 1963, Chaskalson, along with Bram Fischer, Joel Joffe, Harry Schwarz and George Bizos, was part of the former President Nelson Mandela's defence team in the Rivonia Trial, which saw Mandela sentenced to life imprisonment. He later left a very successful legal practice to become a human rights lawyer, helping to establish the Legal Resources Centre, a non-profit organisation seeking to use the law to pursue justice and human rights around South Africa. Chaskalson served as the centre's director from 1978 until 1993, and was leading counsel in a number of cases which challenged the implementation of apartheid laws. He was a formidable opponent of the apartheid government in Court, with a soft voice but commanding presence.

As the first president of South Africa's new Constitutional Court in 1994, and then later Chief Justice of the same court (following a Constitutional amendment act in 2001 which changed his title), Chaskalson gained a reputation as one of South Africa's leading jurists in constitutional and human rights issues. Chaskalson was a member of the technical committee on constitutional issues appointed by the multi-party negotiating forum in May 1993, acting as a key advisor on the adoption of the Interim Constitution of South Africa in 1993, and was regarded as one of the prime movers of a changing judiciary in South Africa during his time on the bench of the Constitutional Court.

More recently, Chaskalson has also become prominent internationally, becoming commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists in 1995 before being selected as one of South Africa's four members on the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration in 1999. In 2001 Chaskalson was appointed by the United Nations as a judge for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

On 31 May 2005, Chaskalson retired from his role as Chief Justice, and was replaced by his former deputy Pius Langa. In his 2005 State of the Nation speech and shortly before Chaskalson's retirement, South African President Thabo Mbeki praised the Chief Justice as a "great son of our people" and a "giant among the architects of our democracy". As a gesture of gratitude, Mbeki paid tribute to Chaskalson for everything he had done "as a South African, a lawyer and a judge, to shepherd us towards the construction of a South Africa that truly belongs to all who live in it".

See also

Constitutional Court of South Africa

Constitution of South Africa

External links

• Structure of South Africa's present Justice system

v t e Constitutional Court of South Africa Constitution Hill, Johannesburg Current Justices Mogoeng Mogoeng (Chief Justice) Dikgang Moseneke (Deputy Chief Justice) Edwin Cameron Johan Froneman Chris Jafta Sisi Khampepe Bess Nkabinde Thembile Skweyiya Johann van der Westhuizen Zak Yacoob (Acting Deputy Chief Justice) Former Justices Lourens Ackermann Arthur Chaskalson John Didcott Richard Goldstone Johann Kriegler Pius Langa Tholie Madala Ismail Mahomed Yvonne Mokgoro Sandile Ngcobo Kate O'Regan Albie Sachs Lists of judgments 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Law of South Africa Constitution of South Africa Courts of South Africa Judiciary of South Africa