Daniël de Waal KC (10 September 1873 – 19 February 1938) was a South African judge who served as Judge President of the

Transvaal Provincial Division The Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law which has general jurisdiction over the South African province of Gauteng and the eastern part of North West province. The main seat of the division is at Pretoria, w ...

of the

Supreme Court of South Africa The Supreme Court of South Africa was a superior court of law in South Africa from 1910 to 1997. It was made up of various provincial and local divisions with jurisdiction over specific geographical areas, and an Appellate Division which was t ...

Early life and education

De Waal was born in Stellenbosch and received his schooling at the Stellenbosch Gymnasium, after which he went on to the Victoria College in Stellenbosch, completing his course in 1894. He then to England, where he obtained the Law

Tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

, in 1896.

Career

De Waal returned to Cape Town and joined the Cape

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

in January 1897, but a month later he began practising as an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

. During the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

he served on commando operations for the Boers and after the war he was re-admitted to the Transvaal Bar in July 1902. With the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he served on General

Louis Botha Louis Botha (; 27 September 1862 – 27 August 1919) was a South African politician who was the first prime minister of the Union of South Africa – the forerunner of the modern South African state. A Boer war hero during the Second Boer War, ...

's staff where he acted as chief provost. He also participated in the

German South West Africa Campaign The South West Africa campaign was the conquest and occupation of German South West Africa by forces from the Union of South Africa acting on behalf of the British imperial government at the beginning of the First World War. Background The ...

. After the war he returned to his advocate practice and in 1919 he took silk. In October 1919, De Waal was made acting judge in the Griqualand-West Local Division of the

. In August 1920 he was appointed judge of the

and in 1927 he became Judge-President of the Transvaal Division, a post he occupied until 1937 when he retired for health reasons.

Personal life

De Waal was a talented sportsman and in 1891, while still in school, he played for Stellenbosch against the visiting rugby team of the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

. He also was the '' Victor Ludorum'' of Victoria College, from 1892 to 1894. De Waal was married twice. His first marriage was to Christina MacMillan and they had two children. After her death in 1906, he married Helena Letitia Botha, the daughter of General Louis Botha and they had four children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:de Waal, Daniël 1873 births 1938 deaths South African judges South African Queen's Counsel Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge Alumni of Paul Roos Gymnasium

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

See also

References