Dave Smuts

Last updated

Dave Smuts (David Smuts) is as of 2023 one of the four judges on the Supreme Court of Namibia [1] and the founder of the Legal Assistance Centre. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School. [2]

Smuts began practising law in 1980. [2] He assisted in founding Namibia's largest newspaper The Namibian in 1985. [3] In 1988, Smuts founded Namibia's Legal Assistance Centre whose stated goal is to address human rights injustices perpetrated by apartheid era government in Namibia. [4] In 1992, he left the Legal Assistance Centre and started his own private practice.[ citation needed ]

Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court in 2015, [5] Smuts was appointed a judge in Namibia's High Court in 2010. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Court of Canada</span> Highest court of Canada

The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts. The Supreme Court is bijural, hearing cases from two major legal traditions and bilingual, hearing cases in both official languages of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William J. Brennan Jr.</span> U.S. Supreme Court justice from 1956 to 1990

William Joseph Brennan Jr. was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1956 to 1990. He was the seventh-longest serving justice in Supreme Court history, and was known for being a leader of the Court's liberal wing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Court of India</span> Highest judicial body in India

The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judicial authority and the highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also has the power of judicial review. The Supreme Court, which consists of the Chief Justice of India and a maximum of fellow 33 judges, has extensive powers in the form of original, appellate and advisory jurisdictions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laurence Tribe</span> American lawyer and Harvard Law School professor

Laurence Henry Tribe is an American legal scholar who is a University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University. He previously served as the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard Law School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Roberts</span> Chief Justice of the United States since 2005

John Glover Roberts Jr. is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. He has been described as having a moderate conservative judicial philosophy, though he is primarily an institutionalist. He has shown a willingness to work with the Supreme Court's liberal bloc, and has been regarded as a swing vote on the Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Gorsuch</span> US Supreme Court justice since 2017 (born 1967)

Neil McGill Gorsuch is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on January 31, 2017, and has served since April 10, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Court of Ghana</span> Highest judicial body in Ghana

The Supreme Court of Ghana is the highest judicial body in Ghana. Ghana's 1992 constitution guarantees the independence and separation of the Judiciary from the Legislative and the Executive arms of government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judiciary of India</span> National court system

The judiciary of India is a system of courts that interpret and apply the law in the Republic of India. India uses a common law system, first introduced by the British East India Company and with influence from other colonial powers and Indian princely states, as well as practices from ancient and medieval times. The Constitution of India provides concept for a single and unified judiciary in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chief Justice of Ghana</span> Highest-ranking judge of the Supreme Court of Ghana

The chief justice of Ghana is the highest-ranking judge of the Supreme Court of Ghana. The chief justice is also the head of the Judiciary of Ghana and is responsible for its administration and supervision. In order of state precedence, the chief justice is the fourth highest official in Ghana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Namibia</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Namibia have limited legal protections. Sexual contact between men is criminalised within Namibia. Discrimination based on sexual orientation is banned in Namibia but not for gender identity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Reed, Baron Reed of Allermuir</span> President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

Robert John Reed, Baron Reed of Allermuir, is a Scottish judge who has been President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom since January 2020. He was the principal judge in the Commercial Court in Scotland before being promoted to the Inner House of the Court of Session in 2008. He is an authority on human rights law in Scotland and elsewhere; he served as one of the UK's ad hoc judges at the European Court of Human Rights. He was also a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong.

Sandile Ngcobo is a retired South African judge who was the Chief Justice of South Africa from October 2009 to August 2011. He served in the Constitutional Court of South Africa from August 1999 until his retirement in August 2011. Before that, he was a judge of the Cape Provincial Division and the Labour Appeal Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Court of Namibia</span>

The Supreme Court of Namibia is the highest court in the judicial system of Namibia. It is the court of last resort and the highest appellate court in the country. It is located in the city centre of Namibia's capital city, Windhoek. A Supreme Court decision is supreme in that it can only be reversed by an Act of Parliament that contradicts it, or by another ruling of the Supreme Court itself.

The Caprivi treason trial is a trial in which the Government of Namibia indicted 132 people for allegedly participating in the Caprivi conflict on the side of the Caprivi Liberation Army during a period between 1992 and 2002. They were charged with high treason, murder, sedition, and many other offences, altogether 278 counts of criminal conduct.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dalveer Bhandari</span> Indian judge (born 1947)

Dalveer Bhandari is one of the judges of the International Court of Justice. He is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India. He is also the former chief justice of the Bombay High Court and a judge of the Delhi High Court.

Abdulai Hamid Charm is a Sierra Leonean judge, who was formerly the Chief Justice of Sierra Leone until his resignation in December 2018.

The Legal Assistance Centre is a human rights organization in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. The organization was established in 1988 during the apartheid era to litigate on behalf of people who were oppressed by the government and continues to operate today.

Same-sex unions are currently not performed in Namibia. The Supreme Court ruled 4–1 on 16 May 2023 that same-sex marriages concluded outside of Namibia should be recognised for residency purposes. A bill seeking to overturn the ruling is currently pending in the Parliament of Namibia.

Pio Marapi Teek was a Namibian judge and ombudsman.

References

  1. "Namibia Superior courts. Supreme Court Judges". ejustice.moj.na. Namibia Superior courts. 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  2. 1 2 Kahiurika, N (16 May 2019). "American academy elects judge Smuts". The Namibian. Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  3. "Namibia". Index on Censorship. 21 (4): 68–72. 1992. doi: 10.1080/03064229208535345 .
  4. "History". Legal Assistance Centre. Archived from the original on 18 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  5. Endjala, S (6 February 2015). "Smuts sworn-in as Permanent Judge of Appeals". NAMPA. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  6. Menges, W (20 December 2010). "Smuts to join High Court bench". The Namibian. Retrieved 15 August 2019.