Sir Salako Ambrosius Benka-Coker (1900–1965) was a Sierra Leonean judge of the Supreme Court and the first African to hold the position of Chief Justice of the

newly independent state The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

. He was awarded a Knighthood of the British Empire in 1961.

Early life and education

Born in 1900 to Sierra Leone Creole parents, Benka-Coker attended the

Sierra Leone Grammar School The Sierra Leone Grammar School was founded on 25 March 1845 in Freetown, Sierra Leone, by the Church Mission Society (CMS), and at first was called the CMS Grammar School. It was the first secondary educational institution for West Africans with ...

in Freetown and later Fourah Bay College, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1916. He later attended

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

, followed by the Middle Temple before being

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 1926.Fyle, Magbaily C. Historical Dictionary of Sierra Leone. Vol. 99. Scarecrow Press, 2006.

Career and legal luminary

Benka-Coker established a private legal practice in

Bathurst, Gambia Banjul (,"Banjul"
(US) and ), officially the City of Ba ...

before accepting an appointment in 1943 as Crown Counsel in Sierra Leone. Between 1953 and 1957, he was attorney-general before his appointment as Chief Justice in 1960.“Legal Education in Africa.” Journal of African Law, vol. 6, no. 1, 1962, pp. 1–1. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/745154. Accessed 21 Apr. 2023.

References

1900 births 1965 deaths Sierra Leone Creole people Sierra Leonean knights 20th-century Sierra Leonean judges Fourah Bay College alumni Chief justices of Sierra Leone Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire {{lawyer-stub