Francis Lucas Nyalali (3 February 1935 – 2 April 2003) was the

Chief Justice of Tanzania The chief justice of Tanzania is the highest post in the judicial system of Tanzania. The chief justice is appointed by the president and presides over the Court of Appeal of Tanzania. History After the First World War, the former German-governed ...

from 1977 to 2000, who promoted easy access to

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 ...

, rule of law,

constitutionalism Constitutionalism is "a compound of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law". Political organizations are constitutional ...

, and

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

. To date, he remains the longest serving

and within the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the ...

, where an average serving time for a Chief Justice is 3.6 years.

References

1935 births 2003 deaths Tanzanian Roman Catholics Chief justices of Tanzania Makerere University alumni Tanzanian judges {{Tanzania-bio-stub