High Court’s longest-serving Judge retires from the bench

A JUDICIAL career of some 26 years drew to a close for the longest-serving – and in legal circles, one of the most highly-rated – members of Namibia’s High Court bench yesterday.

Judge Nic Hannah is retiring from the bench. Yesterday was his last working day in his chambers at the High Court.Fellow members of Namibia’s judiciary, a few representatives of the legal profession, members of the Judicial Service Commission and staff from the High Court bade Judge Hannah farewell at a gathering in Windhoek on Tuesday evening.The retiring Judge received glowing tributes from his peers – with Chief Justice Peter Shivute calling him a “great Judge and eminent jurist”, Judge President Petrus Damaseb likewise referring to him as “a great Judge”, and senior counsel Dave Smuts, addressing the gathering on behalf of the legal profession, declaring that since he started with his legal career almost 26 years ago, he has not had the privilege of appearing before a finer judge than Hannah.Judge Hannah has been serving on Namibia’s High Court bench for almost 15 years.He joined the bench of the then newly independent country as an Acting Judge in early 1991.In the Chief Justice’s words, he is a pioneer who, together with his colleagues in the judiciary, has laid a strong foundation for the rule of law and judicial independence in Namibia.Judge Hannah has dedicated the greater part of his adult life to serving the people of southern Africa, the Chief Justice said.He related that after being called to the English Bar in 1964, Hannah first lectured law at Liverpool University until 1966 and then practised law in London until 1979.In that year, he was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Botswana.He served in that capacity until 1985, when he received an appointment as Chief Justice of Swaziland – a post in which he was to serve until his move to Namibia.In his remarks, Judge President Damaseb said Judge Hannah had served the bench with distinction, much like the Judge President’s own greatest inspiration in the law, Sir Edward Coke, had done.Coke was a Chief Justice of England some 400 years ago.Fearless and incorruptible, in the Judge President’s words, Coke clashed with two British Kings as he asserted the independence of the courts and the supremacy of the law, and in the process helped lay the basis for a system of the rule of law, constitutionalism and democracy that has since become the bedrock of all progressive and modern constitutional democracies, including Namibia, Damaseb related.”Judge Hannah, like Lord Coke you were an independent, fearless and impartial Judge,” the Judge President stated.The Judge President did not mention it outright, but like Coke, Judge Hannah also had a clash with a king – and that was what led to his move to Namibia.Judge Hannah recalled that after he had had a spat with Swaziland’s then still youthful King Mswati III over the matter of judicial independence, he soon received a letter from Swaziland’s Prime Minister, informing him that the King wished him well – but elsewhere.Soon after that, he received an offer from Namibia’s then Chief Justice, Hans Berker, to take up an acting post at Namibia’s High Court, Hannah recalled.That was in early 1991; by November 1991, he was appointed in a permanent capacity.As a Judge, Hannah gained a reputation for tolerating no nonsense or sloppiness in his court, which he ran sternly, but through which he also gained lawyers’ appreciation for an ability to cut through the fogs of peripheral issues to get to the essence of a case, and to deliver his decisions promptly.As he eases into retirement, he expects to be spending some time at the home that he and his wife, lawyer Anna-Marie Engelbrecht, have at Henties Bay.Among the pastimes that he is contemplating, are woodwork, fishing, travelling, and perhaps doing some writing – but of children’s books, rather than in the field of law, he says.Yesterday was his last working day in his chambers at the High Court.Fellow members of Namibia’s judiciary, a few representatives of the legal profession, members of the Judicial Service Commission and staff from the High Court bade Judge Hannah farewell at a gathering in Windhoek on Tuesday evening.The retiring Judge received glowing tributes from his peers – with Chief Justice Peter Shivute calling him a “great Judge and eminent jurist”, Judge President Petrus Damaseb likewise referring to him as “a great Judge”, and senior counsel Dave Smuts, addressing the gathering on behalf of the legal profession, declaring that since he started with his legal career almost 26 years ago, he has not had the privilege of appearing before a finer judge than Hannah.Judge Hannah has been serving on Namibia’s High Court bench for almost 15 years.He joined the bench of the then newly independent country as an Acting Judge in early 1991.In the Chief Justice’s words, he is a pioneer who, together with his colleagues in the judiciary, has laid a strong foundation for the rule of law and judicial independence in Namibia.Judge Hannah has dedicated the greater part of his adult life to serving the people of southern Africa, the Chief Justice said.He related that after being called to the English Bar in 1964, Hannah first lectured law at Liverpool University until 1966 and then practised law in London until 1979.In that year, he was appointed as a Judge of the High Court of Botswana.He served in that capacity until 1985, when he received an appointment as Chief Justice of Swaziland – a post in which he was to serve until his move to Namibia.In his remarks, Judge President Damaseb said Judge Hannah had served the bench with distinction, much like the Judge President’s own greatest inspiration in the law, Sir Edward Coke, had done.Coke was a Chief Justice of England some 400 years ago.Fearless and incorruptible, in the Judge President’s words, Coke clashed with two British Kings as he asserted the independence of the courts and the supremacy of the law, and in the process helped lay the basis for a system of the rule of law, constitutionalism and democracy that has since become the bedrock of all progressive and modern constitutional democracies, including Namibia, Damaseb related.”Judge Hannah, like Lord Coke you were an independent, fearless and impartial Judge,” the Judge President stated.The Judge President did not mention it outright, but like Coke, Judge Hannah also had a clash with a king – and that was what led to his move to Namibia.Judge Hannah recalled that after he had had a spat with Swaziland’s then still youthful King Mswati III over the matter of judicial independence, he soon received a letter from Swaziland’s Prime Minister, informing him that the King wished him well – but elsewhere.Soon after that, he received an offer from Namibia’s then Chief Justice, Hans Berker, to take up an acting post at Namibia’s High Court, Hannah recalled.That was in early 1991; by November 1991, he was appointed in a permanent capacity.As a Judge, Hannah gained a reputation for tolerating no nonsense or sloppiness in his court, which he ran sternly, but through which he also gained lawyers’ appreciation for an ability to cut through the fogs of peripheral issues to get to the essence of a case, and to deliver his decisions promptly.As he eases into retirement, he expects to be spending some time at the home that he and his wife, lawyer Anna-Marie Engelbrecht, have at Henties Bay.Among the pastimes that he is contemplating, are woodwork, fishing, travelling, and perhaps doing some writing – but of children’s books, rather than in the field of law, he says.