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The Chief Justice of Guyana is the senior judge of the High Court of the

Supreme Court of Guyana Supreme may refer to: Entertainment * Supreme (character), a comic book superhero * ''Supreme'' (film), a 2016 Telugu film * Supreme (producer), hip-hop record producer * "Supreme" (song), a 2000 song by Robbie Williams * The Supremes, Motown-e ...

and is appointed by the

President of Guyana The president of Guyana is the head of state and the head of government of Guyana, as well as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Republic, according to the Constitution of Guyana. The president is also the chancellor of the Or ...

. The High Court consists of the Chief Justice as President of the Court supported by several Puisne Judges. There is a right of appeal from the Supreme Court to the Guyana Court of Appeal, which was established in 1966 and consists of the Chancellor as President of the Court assisted by the Chief Justice and several Justices of Appeal. Since 1966 the Chancellor has thus been the head of the Judiciary in Guyana.

Chancellors

*1966–1968 Sir Kenneth Sievewright Stoby *1968–1975 Sir

Edward Victor Luckhoo Sir Edward Victor Luckhoo OR (24 May 1912 – 3 March 1998) was a Guyanese politician that was the last Governor-General of Guyana, and briefly the acting head of state of the Co‑operative Republic of Guyana on its formation in 1970. Fam ...

*1976–1980 Joseph Oscar Fitzclarence Haynes *1980–1984 Victor E. Crane *1984–1988 Keith S. Massiah *1988–1995 Kenneth Montague George *1995–1996 Aubrey F. R. Bishop *1996–?2001 Cecil C Kennard *2001–2005 Désirée Bernard *2005–2017 Carl Ashok Singh (acting) *2017–present Yonette Cummings-Edwards (acting)

Chief Justices

*c.1826 Sergeant Rough (President of Court of Justice) *1821–1835

Charles Wray Charles Wray (c. 1786 – 2 October 1836) was Chief Justice of Guyana for fourteen years from 1821 to 1835, having been a barrister in England. Wray was the son of Colonel John Wray, of Park Place, St James's, formerly of Hull, and the brother ...

(President of Court of Justice) *1835–1836

John Walpole Willis John Walpole Willis (4 January 1793 – 10 September 1877) was a British judge of Upper Canada, British Guiana (as acting Chief Justice), the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and resident judge at Port Phillip, Melbourne. Early life The ...

(Vice-President of Court of Justice under Charles Wray) *1836–1852

Jeffery Hart Bent Jeffery Hart Bent, occasionally known as Geoffrey Hart Bent (1781 – 29 June 1852) was the first judge in the colony of New South Wales and the first Australian judge to be removed from office. Early life Bent was the son of the merchant, shi ...

*1852–?1862

William Arrindell Sir William Arrindell CB (12 October 1796 – 27 December 1862) was a British judge. Born in Tortola, the Virgin Islands, he was educated in England. Arrindell worked as barrister in Georgetown and in 1824, he defended John Smith in his trial ...

(died from fall, 1862) *1863–1868 John Beaumont *1868–1878 Sir William Snagg *1878–1895 David Patrick Chalmers *1895–1897 Sir

Edward Loughlin O'Malley Sir Edward Loughlin O'Malley (17 February 1842 – 16 August 1932) was a British lawyer and judge. He served as Attorney General and Chief Justice of a number of British colonies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His last position befor ...

*1897–1901 Sir William James Smith *1902–1912 Sir Henry Alleyne Bovell *1912–1914 Sir

Thomas Crossley Rayner Sir Thomas Crossley Rayner (19 April 1860 – 22 May 1914) was a British colonial judge who became Chief Justice of British Guiana. Early life He was born the only son of Thomas Rayner, MD of Manchester, England and matriculated from Owen's Colle ...

(died in office) * Maurice Julian Berkeley (acting) *1914–1926 Sir Charles Major *1927–1934 Sir Anthony de Freitas *1934–1938 Sir Bernard Arthur Crean (afterwards

Chief Justice of Cyprus The Chief Justice of Cyprus was the head of the Supreme Court of Cyprus until 1961. The administration of Cyprus was taken over by the British government, following the Russo-Turkish War, under the Convention of 4 June 1878. Charles Alfred Cook ...

, 1938) *1938–1942 Maurice Vincent Camacho *1942–1945 Sir John Verity *1947–1951 Sir Newnham Worley *?–1955 Sir (Edward) Peter Stubbs Bell (afterwards

Chief Justice of Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia ...

, 1955) *1955–1959 Frank William Holder *1958–?1960 Kenneth Sievewright Stoby *1960–1966 Sir Joseph Alexander Luckhoo *''1966 Guyana became independent and Court of Appeal established.'' *1966–1980

Harold Bollers Sir Harold Brodie Smith Bollers (5 February 1915 – 26 December 2006) was a Guyanese born lawyer, who served as Chief Justice of Guyana. Bollers was born in Georgetown, Guyana, educated at Queen College, Guyana and read law at King's College L ...

*1981–1988 Kenneth Montague George *c.1990 Rudolph Harper *1995-1996 Cecil C Kennard *1996–2001 Désirée Bernard *2001–2015 Ian Chang (acting) *2015–2017 Yonette Cummings-Edwards (acting) *2017–present Roxane George-Wiltshire (acting)

References

{{British dependencies chief justices, state=collapsed Chief Justices of British Guiana Law of Guyana Chief justices