Oscar Galgut (31 July 1906 – 22 May 1999) was a South African lawyer and Judge of Appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Early life and education

Galgut was born in

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

on 31 July 1906 and matriculated at

Pretoria Boys High School , motto_translation = "Through courage and labour" , location = , streetaddress = 251 Roper Street, Brooklyn , region = , city = Pretoria , province = ...

in 1923. He attended the Transvaal University College, graduating with a BA degree In 1924 and an

LL.B. Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

degree in 1928. Galgut first practised as an attorney in Pretoria and from 1935 as an advocate.

Military career

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Galgut served as a lieutenant colonel in the SAAF's 24 Squadron, which was active in North and East Africa. He was also temporarily in command of 24 Squadron and later, acted three times as commanding officer of the SAAF

3 Wing Canadian Forces Base Bagotville , commonly referred to as CFB Bagotville, and also known as Bagotville Airport or Saguenay-Bagotville Airport, is a Canadian Forces base located west of Bagotville in the city of Saguenay. Located in the centre ...

. He was awarded an OBE for his military services.

Judicial career

After the war Galgut returned to the Pretoria Bar and in 1950 he

took silk In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or a ...

. He was appointed to 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, ...

of the Supreme Court in 1957 and in 1975, a year before his the compulsory retiring age of 70, he was elevated to the

Appeal Court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

. Although he retired in 1976, he remained an acting Judge of the Appeal Court until 1986, when he was 80. He also served as Judge of Appeal of the

Bophuthatswana Bophuthatswana (, meaning "gathering of the Tswana people"), officially the Republic of Bophuthatswana ( tn, Riphaboliki ya Bophuthatswana; af, Republiek van Bophuthatswana), was a Bantustan (also known as "Homeland"; an area set aside for mem ...

and Ciskei Appeal Courts. Galgut chairman of the South African Press Council from 1977 until 1984 and from 1986 until 1996 he was the president in of the Advertising Standards Authority for South Africa.

Sporting achievements

Galgut was a talented sportsman and while at university he received colours for

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

. He represented Combined Transvaal in athletics, and although he was selected for the Springbok team as a 110-meter hurdles, he could not go to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

with the team due to study commitments. In hockey, he was selected in 1938 as vice-captain of the South African Hockey Union team to

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

. It was the first ever South African hockey team, and it seems that for that reason, national colours was not awarded to its members.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Galgut, Oscar 1906 births 1999 deaths South African judges 20th-century South African judges South African Queen's Counsel