Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

Eugene Reginald de Fonseka, QC (11 March 1912 - 21 September 2003) was a

puisne Puisne (; from Old French ''puisné'', modern ''puîné'', "later born, younger" (and thence, "inferior") from late Latin ''post-'', "after", and ''natus'', "born") is a legal term of art obsolete in many jurisdictions and, when current, used main ...

judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and served as the acting Chief Justice of Sri Lanka of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 1960 and 1962.

Education

He obtained his primary and secondary school education at the

Royal College Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janu ...

and gained a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

special in mathematics from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

having studied at the

University College Colombo Ceylon University College was a public university college in Ceylon. Established in 1921, it was Ceylon's first attempt at university education. The college didn't award degrees under its own name but prepared students to sit the University of Lo ...

Legal career

Having studied law at the

Ceylon Law College Sri Lanka Law College (abbreviated as SLLC), formerly known as Ceylon Law College, is a law college, and the only legal institution where one can enroll as a attorney-at-law in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1874, under the then Council of Legal ...

, he was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in July 1945. Having started his practice in the unofficial bar, he joined the Attorney General's Department as a Temporary Additional Crown Counsel in 1947 and was promoted Crown Counsel in 1950. He rose to the position of Deputy Solicitor-General and was appointed as the Commissioner of Assize by the

Supreme Court of Ceylon The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය, Sri Lanka Sreshthadikaranaya; ta, இலங்கை உயர் நீதிமன்றம், Ilankai uyar neetimanram) is th ...

and later a puisne judge of the same Court, where on two occasions he served as the acting Chief justice of Ceylon. After he retired he was appointed as the Chairman of the Land Acquisition Board of Review, a member of the Compensation Board under the Land Reform Commission, the Agrarian Services Board of Review, a member of the Income Tax Board of Review and the Chairman of the Debt Conciliation Board. He died on 27 September 2003, at his private residence "Witanhurst" situated within the gardens of his ancestral home, "Greenlands" in Colombo. De Fonseka was a first cousin of Sir Susantha de Fonseka and the paternal uncle of

Tissa Abeysekara Deshanabu Tissa Ananda Abeysekara (7 May 1939 – 18 April 2009 as තිස්ස අබේසේකර) was a Sri Lankan filmmaker, actor, writer, director, screen playwright and political activist. He is better known as a script writer for th ...

. He was married Lilian Grace née Gooneratne, had two children Geetha and Piyal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fonseka, Eugene 1912 births 2003 deaths Acting Chief Justices of Ceylon Puisne Justices of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka Ceylonese Queen's Counsel Ceylonese advocates Sinhalese judges 20th-century Sri Lankan people Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Alumni of the Ceylon University College Alumni of Ceylon Law College