Leslie Blackwell

Leslie Blackwell was a South African judge and a member of Parliament in South Africa, during colonial and apartheid times . In his retirement he wrote columns on interesting cases and quirky features of the law for the Cape Times. He wrote of his experiences of Parliament and memoirs as well as several books of the collected columns / essays . This one dates from 1965. He covers topics such as murder, libel trials, bigamy, spy trials, divorce. These essays are no more than 3 to 6 pages in length and are a light read. Some photographs of some characters discussed in the text add interest. The range over time and of events and subject matter is wide. The chapters on two important South African chief justices, Rose Innes and John Kotze are short biographies of important historical figures. However, there are no footnotes , references or an index and the judge writes with the confidence of a man accustomed to picking out the salient points of an argument. Some of the items are dated but it is surprising how much of the book and its cases are still quite readable. These books now border on the collectable Africana. I found myself wandering why this book would be collectable or worth keeping but I think I shall give it shelf space together with Blackwell's other books and I shall be on the look out for other titles written by Blackwell. One interesting fact I have garnered about Blackwell is that in 1920 he proposed the dropping of discrimination against non European lawyers - so took up a liberal stance and fought to have his motion accepted ( which it was) by the Transvaal Bar. Three stars.… (altro)