Harry Elinder Davies (24 June 1915 – 20 January 2005) was a Rhodesian and Zimbabwean lawyer and judge.

Biography

Born in Bulawayo,

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

, Davies was educated at Milton School, Bulawayo, St George's College,

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, and the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

, where he took the BA (Law), BCom, and LLB. He was admitted to the South Rhodesian Bar in 1939 and practised as an advocate in Bulawayo. He became a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1956. A member of the Bar Council since 1950, he was chairman of the Bar Council and leader of the Bar from 1961 until his appointment to the bench in 1964. Davies had a long-standing interest in the welfare of the African population, and was a longstanding member of the African Welfare Society. In 1955, Davies was elected unopposed to the Federal Assembly of the

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation or CAF, was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the Self-governing colony, self-governing British colony of Southe ...

as the South Rhodesian European member representing African interests, serving until 1963. From 1961 to 1963, he was chairman of the African Affairs Board. In 1963, Davies resigned from the Federal Assembly, shortly before its dissolution, and was appointed President of the Special Court for the hearing of Income Tax Appeals. In 1964, he was appointed a judge of the General Division of the High Court of Southern Rhodesia. He continued in office after the 1965 Rhodesian unilateral declaration of independence. In 1968, after the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

's decision in '' Madzimbamuto v Lardner-Burke'', Davies announced that the Rhodesian courts would not consider this ruling binding as they no longer accepted the Privy Council as part of the Rhodesian judicial hierarchy. From 1970 to 1977 he served concurrently as chairman of the Detainees Review Tribunal. In 1977, he was appointed a judge of appeal in the Appellate Division of the High Court. He continued in his office for two months after the establishment of Zimbabwe, before retiring from the Appellate Division of the High Court of Zimbabwe on 24 June 1980. After retiring from the Zimbabwe bench, Davies became a judge of the Supreme Court of

Transkei Transkei (, meaning ''the area beyond he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei ( xh, iRiphabliki yeTranskei), was an unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa from 1976 to 1994. It was, along with Ciskei, a Ban ...

in 1981. He retired as a permanent judge in 1992, but continued to sit in an acting capacity until 1996. He died in

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in 2005.

References

* 'Retirement of the Honourable Mr. Justice H. E. Davies' (1980) 97 S African LJ 675 * P M Nienaber and Ellison Kahn, 'Reminiscences of Bench and Bar Mainly of the Free State' (2003) 120 S African LJ 7 {{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Harry Elinder 1915 births 2005 deaths People from Bulawayo University of Cape Town alumni Rhodesian Queen's Counsel Members of the Rhodesia and Nyasaland Federal Assembly Rhodesian judges Zimbabwean expatriates in South Africa British judges on the courts of Zimbabwe South African judges