Dorothy Toth Beasley, Introduction to Judge Navanethem Pillay

• Citation: Vol. 22 No. 1
• Publication year: 2008

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGE NAVANETHEM PILLAY

Dorothy Toth Beasley^*

Dean Partlett mentioned that the law school is a "jewel." So too is Judge Navanethem Pillay. Navanethem means precious gem or nine justices-she'll have to explain that to you. She likes to be called Navi, but I think her name is so beautiful that you ought to know the whole thing.

She was born in South Africa, and she has been both a symbol and a standard-bearer for human rights in her country, in the region, and in the world. She received her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law degrees from University of Natal in South Africa, and later a Master of Law and Doctor of Juridical Science at Harvard.

It was at the University of Natal that she first became acquainted with international criminal law. She read many of the transcripts of the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals following World War II. The principle arising from those transcripts of individual accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity has stayed with her throughout her legal and judicial careers.

She opened her law practice in 1967, in Natal Province, and was the first woman to do so in that place.¹As a practicing lawyer, she represented victims of the racial separation laws of South Africa.²A criminal defense lawyer, she defended persons of color on charges of violating the racial laws of South Africa's white regime at a time when the South African bar was not only racially segregated but also male dominated.

One characteristic of the South African legal regime was that non-white lawyers were not...