Former Chancellor of the Judiciary, Keith Massiah dies

– President among others pay tribute

Former Chancellor of the Judiciary and Appeals Court Judge, Senior Counsel Keith Massiah, a man who exuded legal excellence and influenced many current law practitioners, has died at the age of 93 years.

According to reports, Massiah passed away on Friday at the St Joseph’s Mercy Hospital and leaves to mourn his wife, Maureen Massiah, three children and three grandchildren as well as other relatives.
Massiah served as Chancellor of the Judiciary from 1984 to 1988. He then served as Attorney General from 1988 to 1992 under President Hugh Desmond Hoyte. He has also served as an Appeals Court and High Court Judge, as well as a law lecturer at the University of Guyana.
Following the death of the former Chancellor, there have been several tributes from his former students, some of whom have gone on to make their own impact in society. Leading those tributes is former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, who in a social media post on Sunday expressed sadness on hearing of the loss of Massiah.
“It is with profound sadness that I learnt of the passing of one [of] our great Judges of that remarkable era. I was taught by him and practiced law alongside him. I never had the honour of appearing before him. He presided over a generation of which I was not a part. Perhaps his greatest legacy will remain his extraordinary literary prowess,” Nandlall said.
“He employed it splendidly in his voluminous written judgements. His prose style of metaphoric writing laced with influences of Greek mythology, political philosophies, biblical references and excerpts from the classics, created that fertile figurative canvas upon which he wrote those scintillating legal judgements. Reading any of them is an excursion in poetry, art and jurisprudence all in one.”
Nandlall, who served as Attorney General from 2011 to 2014, also praised Massiah’s work in the classroom, noting his ability to break down complex public law concepts and ensure that students can absorb their principles.
“He spoke of authors of renowned fame whose books he used as teaching materials, Judges of the Commonwealth and the Law Lords of the UK with a collegial sense of familiarity that never failed to amaze me. But then again, perhaps he saw them as intellectual peers. Professor Massiah played his part on the stage of life and did so with distinction. To his wife and children, I express my sincere condolences,” Nandlall said.
Meanwhile, President David Granger in a message on Massiah’s passing expressed “heartfelt sympathy to Mr Massiah’s wife, Mrs Maureen Massiah, [and], his three children, three grandchildren, other relatives and friends.”
Former Deputy Mayor of Georgetown, Sherod Duncan also took to social media to express his condolences on the passing of the former jurist. Duncan pointed out that having passed through Massiah’s class, he will be missed.
“Professor Massiah taught me ‘Law and Society’ while I was an undergraduate reading Law at the University of Guyana. He took over our ‘Jurisprudence’ course after Professor Calvin Eversley passed. Professor Massiah was a delightfully beautiful human being and we will miss him very much,” Duncan wrote.