1953
By V.G Hiemstra (1914-2006)
Judge VG Hiemstra passed away on 1 May 2006 at the age of 91 years. He joined the Pretoria Bar in 1943 and took silk in 1955. He was appointed to the Bench of the Transvaal Provincial Division on 13 January 1957. In 1977 he was appointed Chief Justice of Bophuthatswana where he served until 1984. He then served a stint of two years in Namibia as chair of the Constitutional Council, tasked with the drafting of a constitution for an independent Namibia. One of the main features of the draft constitution produced by the Council was a Bill of Rights enforceable in a court of law. Parts of this draft constitution were included in the current Namibian Constitution. It is interesting to note that he was never appointed to the Appellate Division because the government of the day regarded him as ‘too liberal.’ He was the author of the seminal work on the Criminal Procedure Act, which was regarded as the ‘Bible’ by generations of prosecutors, magistrates, criminal law practitioners and judges sitting in criminal matters. He was also the co-author of the Trilingual Legal Dictionary with Prof HL Gonin. Judge Hiemstra was known for the remarkable eloquence of his judgments. One of his judgments was included in an anthology of the best legal prose in the English speaking world, compiled by Louis Blom-Cooper QC, Apart from his long and illustrious career on the Bench, he served his country in several other spheres. He was, amongst others, the chancellor of Unisa for two terms, from 1977 to 1987, and for several years the chair of the Heraldry Board of South Africa. Judge Hiemstra remained a friend of the Pretoria Bar long after his retirement and hardly ever missed a Bar dinner. He was one of the most highly respected and admired judges that the Pretoria Bar has produced. (https://www.gcbsa.co.za/law-journals)

Ex Libris Helen Suzman
Signed.

Helen Suzman, OMSG, DBE (1917 – 2009) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician. She represented a series of liberal and centre-left opposition parties during her 36-year tenure in the whites-only, National Party-controlled House of Assembly of South Africa at the height of apartheid. She hosted the meeting that founded the Progressive Party in 1959, and was its only MP in the 160-member House for thirteen years. She was the only member of the South African Parliament to consistently and unequivocally oppose all apartheid legislation.

145mm x 220mm

R1,500