Lucas Cornelius Steyn

Lucas Cornelius Steyn KC PC (1903–1976) was Chief Justice of South Africa and, as such, acted as Governor-General on two occasions.

Early life

Steyn was born in 1903 on a farm in the Orange River Colony, shortly after it had fallen under British dominion during the Boer War.^[1] He graduated with a law degree from the University of Stellenbosch in 1926, was admitted as an advocate (the South African equivalent of a barrister) in 1928, and obtained a doctorate in law in 1929.

Legal career

There followed an illustrious career as a civil servant under four successive Prime Ministers.^[1] He was Attorney-General of South West Africa, which was then under South African administration, from 1931 to 1933, and worked in the Department of Justice from 1933 to 1944. He was appointed a King's Counsel in 1943. He assisted the South African delegation to the United Nations from 1946 to 1949, and was a legal adviser in the 1950 International Court of Justice hearing into South Africa's refusal to give up South West Africa.

Steyn was appointed a judge of the High Court (Transvaal Provincial Division) in 1951.^[1] Shortly thereafter, in 1955, he was promoted to the Appellate Division. And soon after that he was appointed Chief Justice, ahead of the great liberal judge of many years' appellate experience, Oliver Schreiner. This unprecedentedly rapid ascent reflected Steyn's favour with D F Malan's Afrikaner nationalist administration. As Chief Justice, Steyn acted ex officio as Officer Administering the Government, i.e. acting Governor-General, for the period between the death of Dr Jansen in 1959 and the installation of C.R. Swart in 1960, and again between Swart's resignation as the last Governor-General in 1961 and his inauguration as the first State President a few weeks later. It was he who administered the oaths of office to Swart on both occasions.

Steyn's reign as Chief Justice lasted twelve years. True to his appointment by an Afrikaner nationalist government, Steyn's jurisprudence was executive-minded and critical of English influences on South African law.^[1] He retired from the Bench in 1971.

Personal life

Steyn married Huibrecht van Schoor in 1928. They had two children. He died in 1976.^[2]

References and Notes

Governors-General of the Union of South Africa The Viscount Gladstone The Viscount Buxton HRH Prince Arthur of Connaught The Earl of Athlone The Earl of Clarendon Sir Patrick Duncan Nicolaas Jacobus de Wet Gideon Brand van Zyl Ernest George Jansen Lucas Cornelius Steyn Charles Robberts Swart Lucas Cornelius Steyn