Taslim Elias

Taslim Elias was born in Lagos, Nigeria in 1914 and had his early education in local schools, graduating with A Levels in 1934, prior to this he had gotten married in 1932 to his life-long Partner.

In 1934, he joined the Nigerian Railway and served in the Chief Accountant's Office for nine years. Whilst here he enrolled with the University of London as an external student and passed the Intermediate examinations for BA and LL.B degrees (In Law). He then travelled to the UK in 1944, on admission to UCL. He enjoyed an idyllic cruise to the UK, interrupted infrequently by Luftwaffe bombs. He graduated in 1946 and was later called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1947, he also received his LL.M (Masters degree) in the same year and his Ph.d in Law in 1949.

He started his academic career at Manchester University in 1951, as a lecturer in Law and Social anthropology and then on to Oxford in 1954 (at the Institute of Commomwealth Studies, Nuffield College and Queen Elizabeth House). In 1956, he became Visiting Professor of Law at the University of New Delhi and also taught at the Universities of Aligarh, Bombay and Calcutta

Elias returned to London in 1957 and was appointed a Governor of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He became involved in Nigerian politics as the Legal Adviser to a political party the NCNC and was one of the architects of Nigeria's first Constitution. He was appointed Nigeria's first Attorney General and Minister for Justice in 1960. He retained his position even after the military coup of 1966, although he briefly lost his position in the initial cabinet purge following the take-over. In the interim period between his dismissal and re-instatement, he became Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Lagos.

He was the first Black man to be awarded the LL.D (Doctor of Laws) by the University of London in 1962 for his essays in Commonwealth Law, this being in addition to his Ph.d of 1949, essentially two Doctorate degrees.

In 1972, Elias was appointed the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, he had of course kept himself ....busy in the interim period by active membership of (1961-1975) and at one point Chairing the United Nations International Law Commission (1970). He was at the same time member of several Regional and Global Legal Institutions and was part of the team that drafted the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity and the Constitution of the Congo. He was President of the World Council of Judges and a member of the International Council of Jurists.

In 1976, he was elected a Judge of the World Court (International Court of Justice) at the Hague and subsequently became its Vice-President in 1979, he subsequently became President of the World Court in 1982, upon the retirement of Sir Humphrey Waldock, a position he held till 1985 and remains the longest serving member the World Court. In 1987, he was appointed to the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Elias, was a prolific Legal author of International Stature with publications on International Law/ Conflict of Laws, Constitutional Law and in particular was the first African Legal author, he as responsible for several seminal Legal works on African Legal systems, notably Nature of African Customary Law", "Africa and the development of International Law" and "The development of the Constitutions of Ghana and Sierra Leone". His first and -for his countrymen, his most important work was "Nigerian Land Law and Custom", published in 1951. The importance of this work being the immense research involved in documenting, a hugely complex and fragmented body of local customs and tenets and marrying them with equally complex Common Law doctrines. I need to qualify that the fusion of both systems was not pioneered by Elias work. There having been a dynamic process begun by a number of Colonial statutes and important Judicial decisions, of the Supreme Court in Lagos and on a wider scale by the West African Court of Appeal. Elias work was however an extremely important reference text which greatly assisted the Courts in developing an incredibly difficult area of Law

He died in Lagos Nigeria on the 14th of August 1991.

A man of outstanding intellect and ability, he was also greatly respected for his Integrity and character. This reputation was not affected by the speculative charge of nepotism levelled against him by a local paper, which accused him of influencing a Judgement in favour of his brother, in 1975. A charge which was neither logical nor supported with evidence and was undoubtedly political. Simple fact being that in a landscape of bloated, Immoral, weightless and self-serving Intellectual midgets invariably Elias was going to and did make enemies on account of his perceived aloofness and high-mindedness. What was proven however was that his assets and dealings were open to scrutiny- unlike his detractors- and showed plainly, a scrupulously honest and prudent man. The fact of his appointment to the World Court in the aftermath of the spurious allegations, is testimony to his probity, if there was any foundation to the charges, he simply would not have been admitted to this position.

I never met this man, but remain proud of our shared heritage. I was a young Barrister in Lagos on his death and as such never had the privilege of appearing before him. He was an Intellectual giant by any standards and was an inspiration to two generations of African professionals and academics in the diaspora. From his perilous journey by sea to the UK to seek an education, to his dogged and pioneering rise through adversity and prejudice to carve a career path that took him to places that no other person of his ethnic persuasion had ever attained. His story speaks for itself.