Full Court remembers late Chancellor Keith Massiah

Legal luminaries remembered the life of the late former Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Keith Stanislaus Massiah, OR, SC, during a special sitting of the Full Court of the Supreme Court of Judicature on Friday.

The speakers included Chancellor of the Judiciary Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC.
Chancellor Massiah had a legal career spanning over five decades and held very important positions in public office. He served as a Crown Counsel before climbing to the apex of Guyana’s Judiciary, the Office of Chancellor, where he served from 1984-1988. He later became Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs from 1988-1992.
After Justice Massiah retired from public office, he went into private practice and became a distinguished professor of law at the University of Guyana. To date, dozens of Attorneys-at-Law, including Magistrates and Judges, have benefited from his legal scholarship.

Strong admiration
Among other things, the former Chancellor was remembered for the metaphoric manner in which he wrote judgements. According to Justice Cummings-Edwards, Justice Massiah gave distinguished and selfless service to Guyana. She noted that he was well suited for the Office of Chancellor and that during his tenure the administration of justice was in safe hands.

Justice Cummings-Edwards added, “Since undertaking the study of law in 1982, I have always held strong admiration and great regard for the judgement of Chancellor Massiah. His work encompasses all areas of law…. he has excelled, he has set out the law and he has pronounced authoritatively and settled the law in many areas.”
According to her, history would show that Justice Massiah was an excellent Chancellor and would have set the tone for other Chancellors. She said that he held a long and illustrious career and his learning, ability, dignity, diligence, and decorum were admired by everyone.
She said that during his tenure, the Court of Appeal, even though it was the last court of resort at that time, was a brilliant court with definitive and accurate assessments of the law that would have matched those from Her Majesty’s Privy Council.

The Chancellor pointed out that much has been said about his vocabulary, the depth of his analysis of the legal principles and the resulting carefully crafted judgements and the soundness of those decisions. She added that his wisdom and learning have enhanced and enriched many volumes of the West Indian Law Reports and the Law Reports of Guyana.
“These have been the hallmarks of the rich legacy he has left and of which we are proud. His contribution to the development of law in Guyana and further afield has been legendary and our Judiciary has been richer and fuller because of that contribution,” she continued.

Greatest jurist
“To my mind, Keith Massiah ranks amongst Guyana’s greatest Jurists and will hold his own against any in Her Majesty’s Commonwealth,” remarked Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, as he paid tribute to the late Senior Counsel who was a recipient of the Order of Roraima, the country’s highest national award.
“No doubt, Chancellor Massiah played his part on the stage of life and did so with distinction. He was awarded the Order of Roraima in recognition of service of exceptionally high quality and beyond the normal call of duty in the administration of justice and the field of law.”

According to Nandlall, Chancellor Massiah has set a precedent of being the first in the Commonwealth who has left the pinnacle of the Judiciary to immediately join the Executive as Attorney General.
“Perhaps his greatest legacy will remain his extraordinary literary prowess. 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.”
Moreover, Nandlall reflected on facing Chancellor Massiah on the opposing side one year after he was admitted to the Bar. The Attorney General confessed that this remains one of his most memorable cases. “When the Judge pronounced his ruling in my favour, I stood up in court and gave all the credit to Professor Massiah who lectured me on the very public law concepts which were the subject of the case. I had in my hand his course worksheets,” Nandlall said in awe.
Another distinguishing feature of Chancellor Massiah’s judicial career, Nandlall noted, is that he was versed in all areas of the law. He added, “A cursory examination of his judgements span all branches of the law, whether it be constitutional or public law, criminal law or the various facets of civil law.”
The Attorney General informed that Justice Massiah was a former student of Queen’s College “and a shining example of the calibre of person, and character which the school produces.”
In closing, Nandlall expressed that the vacuum left by the departure of Chancellor Massiah may not ever be filled, at least not in his lifetime. He nevertheless assured that his legacy will live on, wherever English law continues to practiced.
In addition to those mentioned, past and present Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature; Ombudsman Winston Patterson, Justice of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Lousie Blenman; Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, and members of the Guyana Bar Association and Women Lawyers Association were among those who attended the special Full Court sitting in honour of late Chancellor Massiah.
Chancellor Massiah passed away on April 24, 2020. He was 93. His widow is Maureen Massiah, with whom he had one child, Dr Nadine Massiah.