V. C. Gopalratnam

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Vembakkam Comanduru Gopalratnam, son of Sir V. C. Desikachariar, grandson of V. Rajagopalacharlu, grandnephew of V. Sadagopacharlu, [1] brother-in-law of K. Bhashyam Iyengar, [2] and son-in-law of V. V. Srinivasa Iyengar, [1] was himself a top-ranking lawyer, writer, humorist, and legal historian, [1] whose magnum opus was The High Court (A Century Completed), finished just months before his death in 1962. He was also author of Hāsya Nāṭakaṅkaḷ Kaṭṭuraikaḷ, a work in Tamil. [3] A member of the Vembaukum family, he co-edited the quarterly trade journal The Lawyer [4] and was partially resident in Vasantavilas, where he took on as a junior a youthful Randor Guy. [5]

Publications

A century completed : a history of the Madras High Court, 1862-1962. Madras: Madras Law Journal Office. 1962. OCLC   11687458.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vembaukum family</span>

The Vembaukum or Vembakkam family were one of the two preeminent Brahmin dynasties in the Madras Presidency, dominating the Mylapore clique alongside the Calamur clan, and 'possess(ing) an enormous presence in the... bureaucracy of the capital and its surrounding district(s)', whose historical presence began in the 1820s, with the sprawling clan famously having begun holding yearly family conferences by the 1890s to preserve their dynastic unity, political cohesion and influence, and wealth.

The Egmore group, also faction, clique, or set, was a faction in the Madras Presidency which emerged as opposition to the hegemony of the Mylapore clique, crystallizing around the leadership of C. Sankaran Nair — one of the first non-Brahmins to achieve high office in British India. S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, editor-owner of The Hindu, was another crucial early ‘Egmorean’, as was C. Rajagopalachari, who ultimately ousted the Egmore group from the position of power it had achieved in the Indian National Congress, the origins of which substantially lie in the Mylapore-Egmore rivalry. Additional pivotal figures in the early Egmore faction were T. Rangachari, C. Vijayaraghavachariar, and T. M. Nair. As the Mylapore-Egmore rivaly came to dominate the politics of the era, the Egmore set comprised ‘extremists’, or Nationalists, as contrasted to Mylapore moderates.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. V. Sundara Sastri</span>

Calamur Viravalli Sundara Sastri was a leading Vakil of the High Court of Madras, second in the Calamur line to bear the style Viravalli, and of a family line occupying a prominent position and status within the Madras Presidency; a "giant" of Madras jurisprudence, with a "very large" practice on the Original Side, which he shared with his partner and adoptive brother, Sir P. Ananda Charlu. Sundara Sastri published a Revised Set of the Rules of Practice for Original side litigation, which became de rigueur, and was noted as an orator with 'perfect' diction. He authored the Sundararāmāyaṇa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">V. N. Srinivasa Rao</span>

Vallur Nott Srinivasa Rao is a legal historian, and member of the Calamur family through his mother and by marriage. In the former capacity he has been described by The Hindu as "the best writer" in the category of court historians, inclusive of V.C. Gopalratnam, author of A Century Completed: A History of the Madras High Court, 1862-1962, W.S. Krishnaswami Nayudu, N.L. Rajah, and Randor Guy for books like his celebrated Lives of the Chief Justices of Madras: During the British Rule and Other Essays.

Diwan Bahadur Mandayam Osuri Parthasarathi Iyengar, M.A., M.L. (1857–1926) was an Indian lawyer and magistrate who retired to private practice in 1913, from the role of District and Sessions Judge of Rajahmundry in the Madras Presidency, having served prior as Chief Judge and Third Judge of the Court of Small Causes, and as a judge of the Madras City Civil Court. He was born in 1857, and after graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1879 apprenticed with T. Rama Rao, before enrolling as a Vakil of the High Court of Madras. He subsequently graduated to the rank of Advocate, and was recognized as one of the leaders of the Appellate Side, along with C. R. Pattabhirama Iyer, V. Krishnaswamy Iyer, P. R. Sundaram Iyer, Sir V. C. Desikachariar, and Sir C. Sankaran Nair, immediately behind Sir V. Bhashyam Aiyangar and Sir S. Subramania Iyer, from 1891, prior to embarking on his judicial career in 1896. He was a member of the Madras Law College Council, and reportedly led the Triplicane Clique. He was uncle to M. O. P. Iyengar and M. O. T. Iyengar.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "A home of law". The Hindu. 2013-02-12. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  2. "A road straddling two religions". The Hindu. 2013-01-01. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 2024-03-27.
  3. Gopalratnam, V. C. (1944). Hāsya nāṭakaṅkaḷ, kaṭṭuraikaḷ. Tin̲amaṇi veḷiyīṭu. Cen̲n̲ai: Tin̲amaṇi Kāriyālayam. OCLC   39769376.
  4. Gledhill, A. (January 1957). "Lawyer (Quarterly Law Journal). Edited by V. C. Gopalratnam and N. R. Raghavachari. [Published by Madras State Bar Federation, High Court Madras. Inland Rs. 5; foreign 10s. annually.]". International & Comparative Law Quarterly. 6 (1): 194–194. doi:10.1093/iclqaj/6.1.194. ISSN   1471-6895.
  5. MyTimes, Team (2023-04-25). "MYLAPORE TIMES - Tribute: Randor Guy, deep Mylapore connections and loads of Mylapore stories re-told". MYLAPORE TIMES. Retrieved 2024-03-21.