On Sunday 2 February 2020, the sad news of Sir Victor Glover was announced. He departed this world painlessly and peacefully. I consider it my privilege to have known him since I joined the Bar, in 1971, and witnessed his ascending judicial career throughout different jurisdictions and positions held.
Sir Victor had a brilliant academic record. He read law at Oxford University and was Called to the Bar in 1957. He joined the Attorney General’s Office in 1962, after having practised at the Bar. He served in different capacities, including that of Parliamentary Counsel. He held several posts and became judge of the Supreme Court at the age of 44. In 1982, he became Senior Puisne Judge, before being elevated to Chief Justice in 1988 until his retirement in 1994. In 2010, he was appointed, amongst other responsibilities, as Chairman of the Presidential Commission of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy.
Sir Victor was elected a Bencher of the Inn in 1992. The Mauritius Middle Temple Association (MMTA), founded in 2008, was lucky to have Sir Victor Glover as our first Honorary President. He had a rich and accomplished career and he will be remembered by all those who had known him in whatever capacity, as a highly respectable and respected person with a great sense of humanity, humility and simplicity. I remember meeting him at the marketplace; he confided in me: ‘Unless you carry regularly the “tente bazaar” you will never have the experience of ground reality of common man to dispense effective justice’. It became clear from his judgement that he was more concerned with the principles of fairness and justice in application of the law.
Socrates described the attributes of a good judge as: ‘To hear courteously, to answer wisely, to consider soberly and to decide impartially’. Sir Victor held all these qualities. The present generation of judicial officers have in him an excellent role model and a source of inspiration. He never believed that to be effective and efficient one has to be stern and an authoritarian. Sir Victor had ‘les pieds sur terre, la tête sur les èpaules, le coeur rempli d’humanisme’. He will always be remembered for his jurisprudential contribution and his quiet, dignified and passionate commitment for justice. Sir Victor wrote in one of the MMTA’s magazines the following: ‘And why should not our effort bring about a desire by members of the other Inns of Court to follow suit? That can only be for the improvement of fellowship and good relations between all the members of the Mauritius Bar’. He is a great loss to the legal fraternity, the judiciary and the Republic of Mauritius.
The MMTA extends to the entire bereaved family our heartfelt sympathies, especially to Gavin and Brian. The huge presence of personalities of all walks of life, gathered at the funeral held at Notre Dame de Lourdes, manifest the love and affection and deep sense of loss. May his soul rest in peace.
