Johannes Hendrik Conradie (born 15 June 1938) is a South African retired judge who served in the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2002 to 2007. He joined the bench in 1987 as a judge of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

's Cape Division, later the

Cape High Court The Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa (previously named the Cape Provincial Division and the Western Cape High Court, and commonly known as the Cape High Court) is a superior court of law with general jurisdiction over th ...

. Before that, he was a practising

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

Early life and education

Conradie was born on 15 June 1938 in

. He attended Laerskool Jan Celliers and Helpmekaar High School, matriculating in 1956. After one year of undergraduate study in Switzerland at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...

, he enrolled at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...

, where he completed a BA in 1959 and an LLB ''cum laude'' in 1963.

Legal career

Conradie was admitted 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, ...

in 1964 and practised law at the Johannesburg Bar for the next 23 years, taking silk in 1982. He was an acting judge in 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 ...

in 1984 and 1985.

Judicial career

In 1987, he was permanently appointed to the bench as a judge of the Supreme Court's Cape Division. He served in that court (which later became a division of the

High Court of South Africa The High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law in South Africa. It is divided into nine provincial divisions, some of which sit in more than one location. Each High Court division has general jurisdiction over a defined geographical ...

) until 1 June 2002, when he was elevated to the Supreme Court of Appeal; he was appointed to the appellate court by President

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...

on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission. He retired in 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conradie, Johan 20th-century South African lawyers 20th-century South African judges 21st-century South African judges Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal (South Africa) South African Senior Counsel Living people Alumni of Helpmekaar Kollege 1938 births University of the Witwatersrand alumni People from Johannesburg Lawyers from Johannesburg