Supreme Court of Seychelles

The Supreme Court Annexe of the Seychelles Palais de Justice

The Supreme Court of Seychelles is the highest trial court in Seychelles.

It was created in 1903 by Order in Council, when it consisted of one judge who was the Chief Justice of the Court. Appeal cases with final judgments of the court in civil matters were transferred to the Supreme Court of Mauritius. ^[1]

There was a right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London - which was abolished upon independence.

When Seychelles became a republic in 1976, a new Court of Appeal of Seychelles was constituted which consisted of a President, two Justices of Appeal and the Judges of the Supreme Court as ex-officio members. Appeals to the Court of Civil Appeal of Mauritius and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council were abolished.

In 1993, under the new constitution, the judicial power of Seychelles is vested in the Supreme Court, a Court of Appeal, and such subordinate courts or tribunals that may be established by the legislature. The Attorney-General and the judges of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President from a list of candidates prepared by the Constitutional Appointments Authority. The head of the Supreme Court, who is also the head of the Judiciary, is entitled the Chief Justice. The other judges of the Supreme Court are referred to as Puisne Judges.

Chief Justices of the Crown Colony

Incumbent	Tenure		Notes
	Took office	Left office
Fury Alfred Herchenroder [1]	1903	1905	(later Chief Justice of Mauritius, 1913)
Eric Blackwood Wright [1]	1905	1909
Alfred Karney Young [1]	1909	1913	(afterwards Attorney General of Fiji, 1913)
Sir Ewen Reginald Logan [1]	1914	1919	(afterwards Chief Justice of the Bahamas, 1925)
Sir Philip Bertie Petrides [1]	1920	1924	(later Chief Justice of the Gold Coast, 1936)
Sir Justin Louis Devaux	1924	1927	(later Chief Justice of Mauritius, 1940)
Robert Vere de Vere	1927	1931	(afterwards Chief Justice of Grenada, 1931)
Patrick Joseph Stanislaus Walsh [2]	1931	1936
John Woodman OBE	1943	1947
Malcolm Douglas Lyon	1948	1957
Sir France Bonnetard [3]	1958	1966
Sir William Campbell Wylie	1966	1970
Sir Georges Souyave [1]	1970	?1976

Chief Justices of the Republic

Swearing in of Mathilda Twomey as Chief Justice

Incumbent	Tenure		Notes
	Took office	Left office
James Aiden O'Brien Quinn [1]	1976	1977	(Expelled; afterwards Chief Justice of Kiribati, 1977–1980; Botswana, 1981–1987)
Earle Edward Seaton [1]	1978	1989
Isaac Kobina Donkor Abban [4]	1990	1993	(afterwards Chief Justice of Ghana,1995)
Vivekanand Alleear	1994	2009
Andrew Ranjan Perera	2009
Martin Stephen Egonda-Ntende [5]	2009	2014	Durai Karunakaran served as acting Chief Justice from 2014 to 2015.
Mathilda Twomey [5]	2015	2020
Rony Goviden [6]	2020

References

1. Mathiot, Tony. "The Judicial History Of Seychelles". Seychelles Ministry for Youth Sports and Culture. Archived from the original on 5 October 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
2. "No. 33769". The London Gazette . 6 November 1931. p. 7155.
3. "Bonnetard, Sir (Nicolas Patrick) France, (20 Feb. 1907–9 Oct. 1969), Chief Justice, Seychelles, 1958–66". Who Was Who. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u51949.
4. "Chief Justice Isaac Kobina Donkor Abban". Seychelles News. Archived from the original on 25 February 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
5. "First woman Chief Justice appointed in Seychelles". Seychelles News Agency. Archived from the original on 1 March 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
6. Bonnelame, Betymie (9 November 2020). "Seychelles' new Chief Justice sworn in, pledges, vows to keep justice at forefront". Seychelles News Agency. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 9 December 2020.