Marthinus Theunis "Theunie" Steyn SC (5 November 1920 – 14 April 1998) was a South African judge of the Appellate Division and

Administrator-General of South West Africa This article lists the colonial governors of South West Africa. South West Africa was the colonial predecessor of the modern day Republic of Namibia from when the territory was controlled by the German Empire (as German South West Africa) and l ...

Early life and education

Steyn was born on the farm " Onze Rust", which belonged to his grandfather, President MT Steyn, the last president of the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

, and then to his father,

Colin Fraser Steyn Colin Fraser Steyn (27 November 1887 – 23 April 1959) was a lawyer and a politician of Southern Africa, Member of the House of Assembly, Senator, and Cabinet Minister in the government of Jan Smuts. Early life He was born on 27 November 1887 i ...

, a former Minister of Justice of the Union of South Africa. In 1937, he matriculated at Grey College in Bloemfontein and then went to 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 obtained his BA degree in 1940 and his

LLB 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 ...

in 1944. During 1944 to 1945. Steyn was a first lieutenant in the infantry of the 6th Armoured Division and fought in Italy 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 ...

Career

On 5 February 1948, Steyn was admitted as an advocate of the High Court of South Africa and immediately began practising as an advocate at the Free State Bar. He became

senior counsel The title of Senior Counsel or State Counsel (post-nominal letters: SC) is given to a senior lawyer in some countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. "Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictio ...

in May 1965 and acted as judge of the division several times from 1968. He was permanently appointed judge of the Free State Provincial Division on 1 June 1974. From September 1977 to August 1978, Steyn served as first Administrator-General of the then

South West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...

. It is widely acknowledged that he did good work in preparing for the independence of SWA. In 1987 he was appointed acting appeal judge and on 14 January 1988 as permanent judge of appeal. He continued to serve as an appeal judge until he reached the age of 75.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steyn, Theunie 1920 births 1998 deaths South African judges 20th-century South African judges Alumni of Grey College, Bloemfontein University of Cape Town alumni