Quartus de Wet (10 March 1899 – 18 December 1980) was a South African judge who served as Judge President of the
Transvaal Provincial Division of the
Supreme Court of South Africa.
Early life and education
Born in 1899 in
Pretoria
Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country.
Pretoria strad ...
, he was the son of
Nicolaas Jacobus de Wet,
Chief Justice of South Africa and acting
Governor-General
Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...
, and
Ella Scheepers (his first wife), who is reputed to have composed the popular Afrikaans song ''
Sarie Marais'' during the
Anglo-Boer War. De Wet matriculated at
Pretoria Boys' High School and attended the
Transvaal University College and
University of Cape Town
The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa.
Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...
, where he graduated with
BA and
LLB degrees.
Career
In 1922, De Wet was admitted as an
advocate
An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...
(the South African equivalent of 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
bar of Pretoria and after twenty three years in practice, in 1945, he
took silk. He became a judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division in 1950, and he became the Judge President in 1961.
He is famous for presiding over the
1963 Rivonia Trial of
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...
and other
anti-apartheid activists.
During the Rivonia Trial, de Wet sentenced Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists to
life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...
, instead of a possible
death sentence, for
sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...
as a result of the trial, and he noted as he passed sentence:
De Wet retired in 1969 and died in 1980; he did not live to see Mandela’s release in 1990.
See also
*
List of Judges President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa
References
1899 births
1980 deaths
Afrikaner people
South African people of Dutch descent
South African judges
People from Pretoria
South African Queen's Counsel
Alumni of Pretoria Boys High School
{{SouthAfrica-law-bio-stub