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| In 1994, Nelson Mandela chose Arthur Chaskalson as the first president of South Africa's constitutional court. Chaskalson, who has died of leukaemia aged 81, had been a member of the Rivonia trial defence team that saved Mandela and his fellow anti-apartheid activists from the gallows in the mid-1960s. He made his mark in his judgments while establishing the collegial and accessible culture of the court whose first act was to abolish the death penalty. A stream of liberal judgments, unimaginable in the apartheid state, were given the court's imprimatur, including the legalisation of same-sex marriages. | In 1994, Nelson Mandela chose Arthur Chaskalson as the first president of South Africa's constitutional court. Chaskalson, who has died of leukaemia aged 81, had been a member of the Rivonia trial defence team that saved Mandela and his fellow anti-apartheid activists from the gallows in the mid-1960s. He made his mark in his judgments while establishing the collegial and accessible culture of the court whose first act was to abolish the death penalty. A stream of liberal judgments, unimaginable in the apartheid state, were given the court's imprimatur, including the legalisation of same-sex marriages. |
| Chaskalson was born in Johannesburg. His father was a company director and his mother was active in Jewish charities. After boarding school (Hilton college, Natal) and gaining commerce and law degrees at the University of the Witwatersrand – where he played in goal for the South African universities football team – he established a flourishing practice at the Johannesburg bar, dividing his work between the poles of corporation clients and dispossessed black people. His sympathy for the revolutionary struggle resulted in his appearance for the defence team at the Rivonia trial of 1963-64, where leaders of the African National Congress were convicted of sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment. Chaskalson worked closely with the main accused, Mandela, in preparing his defence. | Chaskalson was born in Johannesburg. His father was a company director and his mother was active in Jewish charities. After boarding school (Hilton college, Natal) and gaining commerce and law degrees at the University of the Witwatersrand – where he played in goal for the South African universities football team – he established a flourishing practice at the Johannesburg bar, dividing his work between the poles of corporation clients and dispossessed black people. His sympathy for the revolutionary struggle resulted in his appearance for the defence team at the Rivonia trial of 1963-64, where leaders of the African National Congress were convicted of sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment. Chaskalson worked closely with the main accused, Mandela, in preparing his defence. |
| In 1978, by now chairman of the Johannesburg bar, he gave up the security of a lucrative practice to become the first director of the public interest Legal Resources Centre. The moving spirit behind the centre was the lawyer Felicia Kentridge, wife of Sydney Kentridge, the leading human rights barrister in South Africa and England. | In 1978, by now chairman of the Johannesburg bar, he gave up the security of a lucrative practice to become the first director of the public interest Legal Resources Centre. The moving spirit behind the centre was the lawyer Felicia Kentridge, wife of Sydney Kentridge, the leading human rights barrister in South Africa and England. |
| The litigation-driven centre used existing apartheid law and procedure to take on the cornerstones of apartheid. Now his clients were exclusively black. "When you're talking about poor people in South Africa," he said, it is "a euphemism largely for black people, of course – the overwhelming proportion of the poor in South Africa were black, and there's absolutely no doubt that as far as the centre was concerned, more than 99% of our clients were black." The centre's core funding was all American, provided by the Carnegie Corporation, the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. | The litigation-driven centre used existing apartheid law and procedure to take on the cornerstones of apartheid. Now his clients were exclusively black. "When you're talking about poor people in South Africa," he said, it is "a euphemism largely for black people, of course – the overwhelming proportion of the poor in South Africa were black, and there's absolutely no doubt that as far as the centre was concerned, more than 99% of our clients were black." The centre's core funding was all American, provided by the Carnegie Corporation, the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. |
| The centre concentrated on what Chaskalson called the "impact laws". Its first success was a scene-changing challenge to the policy of "influx control", in which black men were permitted to live and work in "white" towns while their wives and children remained in the distant African reserves. The policy resulted in a widespread breakdown of family life. | The centre concentrated on what Chaskalson called the "impact laws". Its first success was a scene-changing challenge to the policy of "influx control", in which black men were permitted to live and work in "white" towns while their wives and children remained in the distant African reserves. The policy resulted in a widespread breakdown of family life. |
| Further victories followed over the administration of the Group Areas act, which prohibited members of different race groups living in the same area; and there was a decisive judgment against the forced removal of entire black populations into ethnic "homelands", one of the worst ideological features of the 1980s. The centre trained more than 200 lawyers, mostly black; by the time Chaskalson had left in 1994 some 50 lawyers were on its books. South Africa's courts and public offices are today crowded with men and women who were trained by the Legal Resources Centre. | Further victories followed over the administration of the Group Areas act, which prohibited members of different race groups living in the same area; and there was a decisive judgment against the forced removal of entire black populations into ethnic "homelands", one of the worst ideological features of the 1980s. The centre trained more than 200 lawyers, mostly black; by the time Chaskalson had left in 1994 some 50 lawyers were on its books. South Africa's courts and public offices are today crowded with men and women who were trained by the Legal Resources Centre. |
| Chaskalson had worked on a new constitution for Namibia, which achieved independence from Pretoria in 1989. It was natural that he should play a prominent role in the constitutional negotiations between the apartheid government and the ANC that led to the first "new" South Africa elections in 1994. Mandela chose his friend and lawyer to preside over the constitutional court, to administer what is widely perceived as the world's most enlightened constitution. | Chaskalson had worked on a new constitution for Namibia, which achieved independence from Pretoria in 1989. It was natural that he should play a prominent role in the constitutional negotiations between the apartheid government and the ANC that led to the first "new" South Africa elections in 1994. Mandela chose his friend and lawyer to preside over the constitutional court, to administer what is widely perceived as the world's most enlightened constitution. |
| In 2005, Chaskalson opened the new court buildings, built into the walls of the Old Fort prison, where hundreds of "politicals" had been held over the years. He had, in the meantime, become chief justice of the supreme court of appeal, the highest tribunal in the land for non-constitutional matters. | In 2005, Chaskalson opened the new court buildings, built into the walls of the Old Fort prison, where hundreds of "politicals" had been held over the years. He had, in the meantime, become chief justice of the supreme court of appeal, the highest tribunal in the land for non-constitutional matters. |
| On his retirement in 2005, the workaholic lawyer continued as president of the International Commission of Jurists (2001-12), served as a judge on the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and taught at Columbia law school in New York. Lord (Joel) Joffe, the Rivonia trial solicitor, remembers his boyhood friend as "a man of total integrity, an outstanding legal mind, my model of an outstanding human being". | On his retirement in 2005, the workaholic lawyer continued as president of the International Commission of Jurists (2001-12), served as a judge on the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and taught at Columbia law school in New York. Lord (Joel) Joffe, the Rivonia trial solicitor, remembers his boyhood friend as "a man of total integrity, an outstanding legal mind, my model of an outstanding human being". |
| Chaskalson's wife, Lorraine, to whom he was married for 52 years, survives him, as do their sons, Matthew and Jerome, and five grandchildren. | Chaskalson's wife, Lorraine, to whom he was married for 52 years, survives him, as do their sons, Matthew and Jerome, and five grandchildren. |
| • Arthur Chaskalson, judge and human rights lawyer, born 21 November 1931; died 1 December 2012 | • Arthur Chaskalson, judge and human rights lawyer, born 21 November 1931; died 1 December 2012 |
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