Raphael Carl Rattray QC (18 September 1929 – 14 March 2012) was a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

n jurist and politician. Rattray was born in 1929 in St. Elizabeth. He began his career in law in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

before being called to the Jamaica Bar in 1958. In 1969, he was appointed a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

. He was also a founder of the law firm of Rattray, Patterson, Rattray.

Political career

Rattray was one of the founding members of the

People's National Party The People's National Party (PNP) is a social-democratic political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by independence campaigner Osmond Theodore Fairclough. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in the House of Representatives, as 96 of the 227 local go ...

as well as a founding member and past chairman of the Jamaica Council for Human Rights. From 1978 to 1980, Rattray was the leader of government business in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

. In

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ru ...

, he was elected as the MP for the constituency of South East St Catherine. Rattray served as the

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 ...

from 1976 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1993. During the latter term, he concurrently served as the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a Ministry (government department), ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of ju ...

from 1989 to 1992 and subsequently as the Minister Legal Affairs from 1992 to 1993. In 1993, Rattray was appointed as President of the Court of Appeal. He served in this capacity until 1999, when he retired from the bench.

Death

On 14 March 2012, Rattray died at his home on

St. Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...

. He was 82 years of age and had been ailing for the previous four years. He was survived by his wife, Audrey, two sons and two daughters.

References

1929 births 2012 deaths Government ministers of Jamaica Members of the Senate of Jamaica Members of the House of Representatives of Jamaica People's National Party (Jamaica) politicians 20th-century King's Counsel Attorneys General of Jamaica Justice ministers of Jamaica {{Jamaica-politician-stub