Sir Chettur Madhavan Nair PC CIE (24 January 1879 – 3 March 1970) (styled Sir Madhavan Nair) was an Indian lawyer who served as Advocate-General of Madras, a

justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

of the

Madras High Court The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...

and member of the

Privy Council of the United Kingdom The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a privy council, formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are curre ...

Early life and education

Born in

Mankara Mankara is a village and gram panchayat in Palakkad district in the state of Kerala, India. Demographics India census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculati ...

in the

Malabar district Malabar District, also known as British Malabar or simply Malabar was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792–1800), Madras Presidency (1800–1950) and finally, Madras State (1950–1956) in ...

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

(Now Palakkad District,

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

), Madhavan Nair was the nephew of

C. Sankaran Nair Sir Chettur Sankaran Nair CIE (11 July 1857 – 24 April 1934) was an Indian lawyer and statesman who served as the Advocate-General of Madras from 1906 to 1910, on the High Court of Madras as a puisne justice from 1910 to 1915, and as Indi ...

. Madhavan Nair was educated at Victoria College,

Palakkad Palakkad (), Renaming of cities in India, also known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery, is a city and a municipality in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of P ...

and matriculated from the Pachaiyappa's High School,

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

. Madhavan Nair graduated from the

Madras Christian College Madras Christian College (MCC) is a liberal arts and sciences college in Chennai, India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous institut ...

and

Madras Law College Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, commonly known by its former name Madras Law College, is a law school, located in Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), ...

before pursuing his higher education at the

University College, London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

and being admitted as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

to the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

Career

Madhavan Nair started practising as a lawyer in the

in 1904. He also served as a law reporter with the Madras Law Journal. Madhavan Nair served as a Government Pleader from 1919 to 1923 and Advocate-General of the Madras Presidency in 1923–24. In 1924, he had to resign as Advocate-General when appointed temporary judge and was succeeded to the post by T. R. Venkatarama Sastri. Madhavan Nair was appointed permanent judge in 1927. He served as judge of the Madras High Court till retirement on 2 January 1939, upon which he was knighted. In 1941, Madhavan Nair was appointed to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom.

Family

Madhavan Nair married Parukutty Amma of the Palat family (Later Lady Madhavan Nair), the daughter of Sir C. Sankaran Nair and thus his cousin. They had two sons - Brigadier Palat Sankaran Nair, Palat Madhavan Nair and a daughter Mrs. Palat Narayani Mahadhava Menon. The couple resided at a property named Lynwood in Madhavan Nair Colony near Mahalingapuram, Madras. Lady Madhavan Nair was the prime benefactor of the Ayyappa Temple in Madhavan Nair Colony Mahalingapuram. Daughter Narayani married Parakkat Madhava Menon ICS and has two children Parvati Ramkumaran and Janaki Nair. C. Madhavan Nair's son P. Madhavan Nair married Rema Unni of the Parakkat family and has three children Sreelata, Madhavan and Usha

References

* * List of Nairs {{DEFAULTSORT:Madhavan Nair, Chettur 1879 births 1970 deaths Indian Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Advocates general for Tamil Nadu Madras Christian College alumni 19th-century Indian lawyers People from Palakkad district 20th-century Indian lawyers Kerala politicians Indian members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Lawyers from British India