Nallini Pathmanathan

Last updated

Yang Arif Tan Sri Datuk
Nallini Pathmanathan
PSM PMW
Justice of the Federal Court of Malaysia
Incumbent
Assumed office
26 November 2018

Nallini Pathmanathan (born 23 August 1959) is a Malaysian lawyer who has served as a judge of the Federal Court of Malaysia since November 2018. She is the first female judge of South Asian ethnicity to be elevated to the highest judicial office in Malaysia. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life and education

Coming from a family consisting largely of doctors, Nallini initially wished to study medicine. However, she was unable to do so and opted to pursue a degree in physiology. [2] [3]

Nallini graduated from the University of London with a Bachelors of Science (BSc) in Physiology in 1982. Upon finishing, she realised that she did not want to further a career in Physiology. On her father's suggestion, she began a law conversion course at the University of Westminster in 1983 and obtained a Diploma in Law. [2] Subsequently, she was called to the English Bar (Middle Temple) in 1984 and to the Malaysian Bar on 15 February 1986. [4]

Career

Nallini commenced legal practice in 1986 with Skrine, a law firm in Malaysia, and in 1995, became a partner at the firm. She served as the chairman of the executive committee of Skrine for a few years. [4]

After being appointed as a judicial commissioner on 1 March 2007, Nallini served at the Shah Alam High Court in Selangor. On 14 October 2009, she was elevated as a High Court judge, and served at the Kuala Lumpur High Court. Then, she was elevated as a judge of the Court of Appeal of Malaysia on 12 September 2014. On 26 November 2018, Nallini was appointed as a judge of the Federal Court of Malaysia. She became the first female judge of South Asian ethnicity to become a judge at the superior courts of Malaysia. [1] [4] [5]

Nallini served on committees of the Malaysian Bar Council and was a member of the Disciplinary Committee Panel of the Advocates & Solicitors Disciplinary Board. As of 2007, she is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. [4] She is also the chairperson of the Malaysian Middle Temple Alumni Association. [3] She is also the secretary of the Judges' Forum of the International Bar Association. [6]

In 2023, Nallini was appointed to Malaysia's Judicial Appointments Committee for a two-year term. [7] The Judicial Appointments Committee also identified Nallini as a potential candidate for the role of Chief Judge of Malaya, the third highest judicial office in the country. [8]

Notable cases

In February 2021, Nallini was part of a seven-member Federal Court bench presiding over a high-profile case aimed at determining if the news portal Malaysiakini, and its editor-in-chief, were guilty of contempt of court over the publication of readers' contemptuous comments. She was the sole dissenter to the decision to impose a RM 500,000 fine on the news portal, stating that the applicant (the Attorney General of Malaysia) had failed to establish beyond reasonable doubt that both Malaysiakini and its editor-in-chief knew of said comments and intentionally wanted to publish them. [9]

In November 2021, a five-member panel of the Federal Court, which Nallini was a part of, granted Malaysian citizenship to a 17-year-old stateless teenager who was born in a hospital in Kuala Lumpur and adopted by a Malaysian couple. [10]

In April 2022, Nallini was part of a three-member bench which rendered a unanimous decision to reject an appeal by a Muslim-convert mother and the Federal Territory Registrar of Muallaf to reinstate her unilateral conversion of her two children to Islam. This was in line with a previous Federal Court ruling that the consent of both parents was required before a child born in a civil marriage could be converted to Islam. [11]

In January 2023, Nallini led a five-member panel of the Federal Court in unanimously dismissing two appeals challenging the Election Commission of Malaysia's decision to hold the 15th Malaysian general election in November 2022. [12]

In January 2023, Nallini was part of a three-member bench chaired by the current Chief Justice, Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat, which unanimously dismissed an application to appeal and challenge the legality of a royal pardon granted to the current Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, in 2018. [13]

In August 2023, Nallini and two other Federal Court judges, as part of a three-member panel, unanimously allowed Sisters in Islam (SIS Forum Malaysia) to proceed with its appeal against a fatwa issued by the Selangor religious authorities which labelled the organisation as deviant from Islamic teachings. [14]

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

Related Research Articles

While freedom of religion is de jure symbolically enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution, it de facto faces many prohibitions and restrictions. A Malay in Malaysia must strictly be a Muslim, and they cannot convert to another religion. Islamic religious practices are determined by official Sharia law, and Muslims can be fined by the state for not fasting or refusing to pray. The country does not consider itself a secular state and that Islam is the state religion of the country, and individuals with no religious affiliation are viewed with hostility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judith W. Rogers</span> American judge (born 1939)

Judith Ann Wilson Rogers is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony Joseph Scirica</span> American judge

Anthony Joseph Scirica is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Smith Gibbons</span> American judge (born 1950)

Julia Smith Gibbons is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Tun Ahmad Fairuz bin Sheikh Abdul Halim is a retired Malaysian lawyer who served as the fourth Chief Justice of Malaysia. A controversial figure, he held that position from 2003 to 2007. In August 2006, he courted controversy by suggesting the abolishment of English Common Law to be replaced by Islamic Syariah Law. He retired in November 2007 and was replaced on 2 November 2007 by Abdul Hamid Mohamad as the Chief Justice.

Mohamed Dzaiddin bin Abdullah was a Malaysian judge, lawyer, police officer and reporter who served as the 3rd Chief Justice of Malaysia from December 2000 to March 2003. He was also the first lawyer to become the Chief Justice.

Sandra Lea Lynch is an American lawyer who serves as a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She is the first woman to serve on that court. Lynch served as chief judge of the First Circuit from 2008 to 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ rights in Malaysia</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Malaysia face severe challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Sodomy is a crime in the country, with laws enforced arbitrarily. Extrajudicial murders of LGBT people have also occurred in the country. There are no Malaysian laws that protect the LGBT community against discrimination and hate crimes. As such, the LGBT demographic in the country are hard to ascertain due to widespread fears from being ostracised and prosecuted, including violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Walker Elrod</span> American judge (born 1966)

Jennifer Walker Elrod is an American lawyer and jurist serving as the chief United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She previously served as a state court judge on the 190th District Court of Texas from 2002 to 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pauline Newman</span> American federal judge (born 1927)

Pauline Newman is an American lawyer and jurist who formerly served as a U.S. Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She has been called "the heroine of the patent system", "the Federal Circuit's most prolific dissenter", and "the greatest ally to inventors with respect to [calling out] the ignorance of the CAFC, district courts, and at times even the Supreme Court". Chief Judge Kimberly A. Moore commented of Newman that "many of her dissents have later gone on to become the law—either the en banc law from our court or spoken on high from the Supremes".

William Eugene Davis, known as W. Eugene Davis, is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. His chambers are in New Orleans, Louisiana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Diaz (judge)</span> American judge (born 1960)

Albert Diaz is an American lawyer who is the chief circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Diaz is the first Hispanic judge to serve on the Fourth Circuit. Prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeals, Diaz was a North Carolina state superior court judge and an appellate judge for the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolly Gee</span> American judge (born 1959)

Dolly Maizie Gee is the chief United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arifin Zakaria</span> Malaysian judge and lawyer

Arifin bin Zakaria is a Malaysian lawyer who served as the seventh Chief Justice of Malaysia, serving from 12 September 2011, succeeding Zaki Azmi, until 31 March 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jill A. Pryor</span> American judge (born 1963)

Jill Anne Pryor is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Pryor was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilhelmina Wright</span> American judge (born 1964)

Wilhelmina Marie Wright is an inactive senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. She is the only jurist in Minnesota's history to be state district court judge, appellate court judge and state supreme court justice. She was formerly an associate justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, a judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and a judge of the Minnesota District Court, Second Judicial District.

Tan Sri Datin Paduka Zaharah binti Ibrahim was the eleventh Chief Judge of Malaya. She also served as chairperson of Prasarana Malaysia Berhad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat</span> Chief Justice of Malaysia since 2019 (born 1959)

Tun Dato' Seri Utama Tengku Maimun binti Tuan Mat is a Malaysian lawyer who has served as the 10th Chief Justice of Malaysia since May 2019. She is the first woman to ascend to the highest judicial office of the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohd Na'im Mokhtar</span> Malaysian politician, lawyer and legal scholar

Mohd Na'im bin Mokhtar is a Malaysian politician, lawyer and legal scholar who has served as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of Religious Affairs in the Anwar Ibrahim cabinet as well as a Senator since December 2022. He served as 4th Chief Judge of the Syariah Court from April 2019 to his appointment as a minister in December 2022. He is one of the two independent Cabinet ministers alongside the Minister of Finance II Amir Hamzah Azizan. He was the sole independent Cabinet minister before the 2023 cabinet reshuffle.

Nik Elin Zurina bt Nik Abdul Rashid & Anor v. Kerajaan Negeri Kelantan, [2024] 2 MLJ 140 is a landmark decision of the Federal Court of Malaysia in which the court held that the Kelantan State Legislative Assembly did not have the power to enact 16 Sharia laws pertaining to criminal matters, which were deemed null, void and unconstitutional. The Federal Court followed its decision in Iki Putra Mubarrak v. Kerajaan Negeri Selangor & Anor, [2021] 2 MLJ 323, another case which laid out the emphasis of federalism and the division between state and federal powers, that the State Legislative Assembly can only make laws on matters enumerated in the State List of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia.

References

  1. 1 2 "Middle Temple | The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple". www.middletemple.org.uk. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Expansion of Malaysian Jurisprudence" (PDF). AdREM: Journal of the Selangor Bar. 1. Selangor Bar Committee: 60–69. 2022.
  3. 1 2 "International Women's Day 2021: interview with Judge Nallini Pathmanathan of the Federal Court of Malaysia". Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. 8 March 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Lawyer Nallini made Judicial Commissioner - The Malaysian Bar". www.malaysianbar.org.my. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  5. 1 2 "The Hon. Justice Tan Sri Datuk Nallini Pathmanathan". Office of the Chief Registrar, Federal Court of Malaysia. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  6. ↑ "Officer Listing". www.ibanet.org. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  7. ↑ Reporters, F. M. T. (8 March 2023). "Federal Court judge Nallini Pathmanathan made JAC member". Free Malaysia Today. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  8. ↑ Anbalagan, V. (29 September 2023). "3 women frontrunners to be next Chief Judge of Malaya, say sources". Free Malaysia Today. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  9. ↑ "Mkini pays RM500,000 fine for contempt of court". The Malaysian Reserve. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  10. ↑ "Federal Court declares stateless teenager a Malaysian citizen". The Malaysian Reserve. 19 November 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  11. ↑ "Muslim-convert mother fails to get leave to appeal to reinstate kids' conversion to Islam". thesun.my. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  12. ↑ "Former Klang MP loses final bid to challenge EC's decision to hold GE15". The Edge Malaysia. 5 January 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  13. ↑ "Lawyer fails to get leave to challenge Anwar's pardon". The Malaysian Reserve. 10 January 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  14. ↑ "Federal Court grants SIS Forum leave to proceed appeal against fatwa labelling it as deviant". thesun.my. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  15. ↑ Khaleeda, Nabilah (5 June 2023). "839 terima Darjah Kebesaran, Bintang dan Pingat Persekutuan 2023, ini antara senarainya". Astro AWANI. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.