Lucien Macull Dominic de Silva
QC
Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Ceylon
In office
1933–1934
Personal details
NationalityCeylonese
Alma materRoyal College, Colombo,
Trinity College, Kandy,
St John's College, Cambridge
ProfessionBarrister

Lucien Macull Dominic de Silva, QC, PC (25 April 1893 – 28 November 1962) was a Ceylonese lawyer and judge, who was a Solicitor General of Ceylon, sat on the Supreme Court of Ceylon and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Education

Born in Ceylon to G. de Silva. De Silva was educated at Royal College, Colombo, Trinity College, Kandy, and entered St John's College, Cambridge in 1911. He graduated in 1914 with a BA in Mathematical Tripos.[1]

He was called to the English Bar as a barrister in 1916 from the Gray's Inn. On his return to he enrolled as an advocate and started his legal practice in the unofficial bar. He was appointed Solicitor-General for Ceylon in 1931, serving till 1934 and was appointed a Ceylonese King's Counsel in 1932. In 1932, he served briefly acting Attorney General for Ceylon. In 1933, he was appointed Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Ceylon. He retired from the service of the government of Ceylon in 1934. In 1938 he was appointed an English King's Counsel in 1932.[1]

He was appointed chairman of the Commission to Enquire into Bribery, State Council, Ceylon from 1941 to 1943, which found several elected members of State Council of Ceylon has accepted bribes, resulting in their removal from the State Council. He thereafter served as the chairman of the Commission to enquire into Law relating to Mortgage, Credit Facilities and Protection of Lands of Agriculturists, Ceylon, 1943–45; chairman, Delimitation Commission, Ceylon, 1946. He was Ceylon's delegate to the Commonwealth Conference on Citizenship, 1947; chairman, Commission to enquire into Law Relating to Companies, Ceylon, 1948; Ceylon Delegate, Commonwealth Relations Conference, Canada, 1949.[1]

In 1951, the Ceylon government decided to seek the appointment of a semi-permanent judge from the island to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and de Silva was selected to fill the vacancy. For tax reasons, on 1 October 1952, de Silva was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Ceylon. In January 1953, de Silva reached London and began to sit on the Judicial Committee.[2][3]

De Silva became a Bencher of Gray's Inn and was elected an honorary fellow of St John's College, Cambridge in 1956.[1]

He married Anne Edwards, daughter of George G. Edwards, of Liandrinio, Montgomeryshire in 1930. They had no children. He died on 28 November 1962 following a brief illness at his home in Willow Brook, Hassocks, Sussex.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 THE EAGLE (PDF) (261 ed.). CAMBRIDGE: MEMBERS OF ST JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. April 1963. pp. 444–445. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  2. ↑ Stevens, Robert (1991). "Vignettes from the End of Empire". University of New Brunswick Law Journal. 40: 149–157.
  3. ↑ "THE LONDON GAZETTE, 8 APRIL, 1938" (PDF). thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
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