The Chief Justice of South Africa is the most senior judge of the Constitutional Court and head of the judiciary of South Africa, who exercises final authority over the functioning and management of all the courts.
Julian Ogilvie Thompson was a South African businessman who was chairman of De Beers and the Anglo American mining company.
The Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law with general jurisdiction over the Western Cape province of South Africa. The division, which sits at Cape Town, consists of 31 judges led by Acting Judge President Patricia Goliath, former Acting Constitutional Court Justice.
John Mowbray Didcott was a South African judge who served in the Constitutional Court of South Africa from February 1995 until his death in October 1998. He joined the bench in 1975 as a judge of the Natal Provincial Division, where he was known for defending human rights during the apartheid era.
Albert van der Sandt Centlivres, was the Chief Justice of South Africa from 1950 to 1957.
Administrator, Cape, and Another v Ntshwaqela and Others is an important case in South African law, heard in the Appellate Division on 7 November 1989, with judgment handed down on 30 November. Corbett CJ, Hoexter JA, Nestadt JA, Steyn JA and Nicholas AJA.
Michael McGregor Corbett, OMS, LLB was a former Chief Justice of South Africa (1989–1996). He served in World War II before going to Trinity Hall, Cambridge to read law in 1946.
Lex Mpati is a South African retired judge who was the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa from August 2008 to May 2016. He was appointed to the bench in February 1997 as a judge of the Eastern Cape Division and he joined the Supreme Court as a puisne judge in December 2000. Before his elevation to the presidency, he was the Supreme Court's first Deputy President from 2003 to 2008. He was also an acting judge in the Constitutional Court in 2007.
Sir James Rose Innes was the Chief Justice of South Africa from 1914 to 1927 and, in the view of many, its greatest ever judge. Before becoming a judge he was a member of the Cape Parliament, the Cape Colony's Attorney-General, and a prominent critic of Cecil John Rhodes. His grandson was Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, a prominent opponent of the Third Reich.
Oliver Deneys Schreiner MC KC, was a judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa. One of the most renowned South African judges, he was passed over twice for the position of Chief Justice of South Africa for political reasons. He was later described as "the greatest Chief Justice South Africa never had".
Sir Henry Herbert Juta was a South African judge who served as Speaker of the Cape House of Assembly, Judge President of the Cape Provincial Division and judge of the South African Appellate Division.
Sir William Henry Solomon was a judge of the Appellate Division from 1910 to 1929 and Chief Justice of South Africa from 1927 to 1929.
Jacob Abraham Jeremy de Villiers was a judge of the Appellate Division from 1920 to 1932 and Chief Justice of South Africa from 1929 to 1932.
Sir Johannes John Wilhelmus Wessels (1862–1936) was an Afrikaner judge of the Appellate Division from 1923 to 1936 and Chief Justice of South Africa from 1932 to 1936.
Frans Lourens Herman Rumpff, was the Chief Justice of South Africa from 1974 to 1982.
Reginald Percy Basil Davis KC was a South African judge and Judge President of the Cape Provincial Division of the Supreme Court.
Benjamin Arthur Tindall KC was a South African judge who served as Judge President of the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa and Judge op Appeal.
Leopold Greenberg QC was a South African judge who served as Judge President of the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa and Judge of Appeal.
Belinda Jane van Heerden is a retired South African judge who served on the Supreme Court of Appeal between 2004 and 2013. Before that, she was a judge of the Western Cape High Court between 2000 and 2004. She also acted on the Constitutional Court in 2006.
Clive Michael Plasket is a South African jurist and retired judge who served in the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2019 to 2022. He was formerly a judge of the Eastern Cape High Court from 2003 to 2019. Before that, he was a practising attorney and a legal academic at Rhodes University, renowned especially as an expert on administrative law.