Sir Justin Louis Devaux (1884– 2 February 1943) was a St Lucian lawyer and colonial judge. Born in

St Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindia ...

in the West Indies, Devaux was educated at St Mary's College, Castries. He then studied law at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

, London, where he was "

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

" in 1906. He moved to Canada and practised law in Winnipeg from 1906 to 1916 before returning to St Lucia and joining the Colonial Civil Service. After working for a time as a magistrate, he was sent to the Seychelles in 1919 as a legal advisor. By 1924 he had been elevated to Chief Justice and labelled ''Tiboulon'' (Little Bolt) by the locals on account of his stature and large hat. When a new Governor, Sir

Malcolm Stevenson Sir Malcolm Stevenson (15 March 1878 – 27 November 1927) was a British colonial administrator. He served as the Governor of Cyprus, and later as the Governor of the Seychelles. Stevenson was born in Lisburn, Ireland, and educated at Me ...

, died shortly after arrival in 1927, Devaux, as Chief Justice, took over as acting Governor. Devaux in turn was soon afterwards replaced as Chief Justice by

Robert Vere de Vere Robert Stephen Vere de Vere (13 July 1872 – 15 September 1936) was an Irish judge in the British Colonial Service. He was the son of Major Aubrey Stephen Vere O’Brien of Adare, Limerick, Ireland and changed his surname to de Vere by Royal Lice ...

but when Vere de Vere arrived in Seychelles Devaux refused to hand over power and secreted the code book and Great Seal of the colony, rendering Vere de Vere helpless until Devaux finally left for his own new post in Jamaica a month later. In Jamaica he was resident Magistrate until 1931, when he was transferred to

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

as Solicitor General and from 1935 as

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

. On 16 December 1939 he was posted to Mauritius as Chief Justice. He was knighted on 1 January 1943, and a month later he died at his home in Port Louis on the 2 February 1943.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devaux, Justin Louis 1884 births 1943 deaths Saint Lucian judges Members of Lincoln's Inn Attorneys General of British Trinidad and Tobago British Mauritius judges Chief justices of Seychelles Chief justices of Mauritius British Seychelles judges Saint Lucian expatriates in Canada Saint Lucian expatriates in Trinidad and Tobago Saint Lucian expatriates in Jamaica Saint Lucian expatriates in Mauritius Saint Lucian judges on the courts of Seychelles