Deshamanya Deshamanya ( si, දේශමාන්‍ය, translit=Dēshamāṉya; ta, தேசமான்ய, translit=Tēcamāṉya; Pride of the Nation) is the second-highest national honour of Sri Lanka awarded by the Government of Sri Lanka as a ...

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

Victor Tennekoon QC (9 September 1914 – April 1990) was a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n lawyer and jurist. He served as the 35th

Chief Justice of Sri Lanka The Chief Justice of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the head of the judiciary of Sri Lanka and the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. Established in 1801, the Chief Justice is one of ten Supreme Court justices; the other nine are t ...

, as well as the 33rd

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 ...

and 23rd Solicitor General. From 1979 to 1984 Tennekoon served as Chancellor of the

University of Peradeniya The University of Peradeniya ( si, පේරාදෙණිය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය, ta, பேராதனைப் பல்கலைக்கழகம்) is a Public research university, public university in Sri Lanka ...

Early life and education

Born on 9 September 1914 in the Central Province of

British Ceylon British Ceylon ( si, බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ලංකාව, Britānya Laṃkāva; ta, பிரித்தானிய இலங்கை, Biritthāṉiya Ilaṅkai) was the British Crown colony of present-day Sri Lanka between ...

, he had four brothers;

Herbert Tennekoon Herbert Ernest Tennekoon, CCS (30 September 1911 - 22 January 1979) was a Sri Lankan civil servant. He was the Governor of the Central Bank of Ceylon. Born in the Central Province of British Ceylon, he had four brothers; Victor Tennekoon, forme ...

, former Governor of the

Central Bank of Sri Lanka The Central Bank of Sri Lanka ( CBSL; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව, Sri Lanka Maha Bankuwa) is the monetary authority of Sri Lanka. It was established in 1950 under the Monetary Law Act No.58 of 1949 (MLA), it is a ...

;

Reginald Tennekoon Reginald Wilfred Tennekoon (31 December 1912) was a Ceylonese politician and businessman. Tennekoon was born on 31 December 1912 in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of British Ceylon, the son of L. B. Tennekoon and Nandumanika R ...

, member of parliament for Minipe; George Tennekoon, Professor of Pathology,

and Kenneth Tennekoon, an engineer who emigrated to the UK in 1956 and one sister Dulcie Wijenaike. He received his education at

St. Anthony's College, Kandy St. Anthony's College, Kandy is a Catholic School, Roman Catholic School in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The college was established in 1854 by the Franciscan missionary, Felice Zoppi. The college is under the management of the Sylvestrines, Syl ...

; gained a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

and subsequently entered the

Ceylon Law College Sri Lanka Law College (abbreviated as SLLC), formerly known as Ceylon Law College, is a law college, and the only legal institution where one can enroll as a attorney-at-law in Sri Lanka. It was established in 1874, under the then Council of Legal ...

. 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 ...

on 4 May 1943 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, ...

Legal career

Tennekoon started his legal practice in the unofficial bar in

Kegalle Kegalle ( si, කෑගල්ල; ta, கேகாலை) is a large town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. It is located on the Colombo–Kandy road, approximately from Colombo and from Kandy. It is the main town in the Kegalle District ...

and was appointed a Temporary Additional Crown Counsel on 1 October 1946 in the Attorney-General's Department. From 14 March 1949 to 5 March 1951, he was seconded to serve as the Secretary to the Kandyan Peasantry Commission. In September 1949 he was appointed Crown Counsel; in November 1955, he was appointed Acting Senior Crown Counsel and in May 1956 confirmed as Senior Crown Counsel. Between April 1957 and June 1961, he served as Acting Deputy Solicitor General. Although he specialized in civil law, he attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

on a senior fellowship in constitutional law from the

Asia Foundation The Asia Foundation is a nonprofit international development organization committed to "improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia". The Asia Foundation (TAF) was established in 1954 to undertake cultural and educational activities on be ...

between September 1961 to March 1962 and on his return joined the Attorney-General's prosecution team in the 1962 coup d'état attempt. Appointed

Solicitor General of Ceylon The Solicitor General of Sri Lanka is a post subordinate to the Attorney General of Sri Lanka. The Solicitor General of Sri Lanka assists the Attorney General, and is assisted by four Additional Solicitors General. Note that the post was Solicit ...

in 1964 he played a key role formulating the

Sirima–Shastri Pact The Sirima–Shastri Pact or Srimavo-Shastri Pact (also known as the ''Indo-Ceylon Agreement'' and ''Bandaranaike-Shastri Pact'') was an agreement that was signed between Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, and Lal Bahadur Sha ...

working as an advisor to the government on aspects of

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

relating to the nationality problems of

Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka are Tamil people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka. They are also known as Malayaga Tamilar, Hill Country Tamils, Up-Country Tamils or simply Indian Tamils. They are partly descended from workers sent from South India to Sr ...

in collaboration with Sir

Humphrey Waldock Sir Claud Humphrey Meredith Waldock, (13 August 1904 – 15 August 1981) was a British jurist and international lawyer. Education Waldock was born to a tea planter and his wife in Colombo, Ceylon. He attended Uppingham School and went up to ...

. In 1965 he took silks as a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

. In 1967, he was appointed to the

Supreme Court of Ceylon The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය, Sri Lanka Sreshthadikaranaya; ta, இலங்கை உயர் நீதிமன்றம், Ilankai uyar neetimanram) is th ...

as a

Puisne Justice A puisne judge or puisne justice (; from french: puisné or ; , 'since, later' + , 'born', i.e. 'junior') is a dated term for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. Use The term is used almost exclusively in common law ...

. He was the first

Kandyan Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...

to serve in the Supreme Court bench, serving from 8 February 1967 to 1 July 1970. In July 1970, he was appointed

. During his term, he created the controversial Criminal Justice Commission to prosecute a large number of suspects of the 1971 JVP insurrection, which was later extended to prosecute exchange control violators. Reaching the public service retirement age of 60, he was appointed a Judge of the

Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance w ...

in August 1973 and served till 31 December 1973. On 1 January 1974 he was appointed Chief Justice, succeeding

Gardiye Punchihewage Amaraseela Silva Gardiye Punchihewage Amaraseela Silva was the 34th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka. He was appointed in 1973 succeeding Hugh Norman Gregory Fernando and was Chief Justice until 1974. He was succeeded by Victor Tennekoon Deshamanya Justice Victor Ten ...

and served till his retirement on 8 September 1977.

Later work

Following his retirement, Tennekoon served in many capacities. He served as the Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Development Councils from 1977 to 1980; Law Commission, the Salaries Review Committee,

LB Finance L B Finance PLC sometimes spelt LB Finance, is a Sri Lankan non-bank financial institution. The company is incorporated in 1971 and initially, the majority of shares were held by Lewis Brown & Company. The company was listed on the Colombo Stock E ...

Company, the Central Hospitals Ltd, and Deputy Chairman of the

Commercial Bank of Ceylon Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC (CBC) also known as ComBank is a licensed commercial bank in Sri Lanka and its ownership is private. It was incorporated as a public limited company and it is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange. It is regarded ...

. In 1984 he chaired the Ministry of Justice Law's Delays seminar and the Committee on the Courts of Appeal. Tennekoon served as Chancellor of the

from 1979 to 1984, he was conferred the honorary degree of

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...

(LL.D.)

honoris causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

by the university. He was conferred the national honour of the title of

in the first ever Independence Day National Honours list in 1986.

Family

Tennekoon was married to Semitha Wijewardena, niece of Don Richard Wijewardena. They had son Asita and two daughters Dayanthi and Priyani.

References

External links

Travels of Sri Lanka President
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennekoon, Victor 1914 births Year of death missing Ceylonese Queen's Counsel Deshamanya Chief justices of Sri Lanka Attorneys General of Sri Lanka Solicitors General of Sri Lanka 20th-century Sri Lankan people Alumni of the University of London Alumni of Sri Lanka Law College Alumni of St. Anthony's College, Kandy Puisne Justices of the Supreme Court of Ceylon Sinhalese judges Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka judges