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history
the
building
After
unification in 1910 the old Council Chambers in Bloemfontein became
the seat of the Provincial Council, while the Appeal Court occupied
the hall of the Legislative Council, as well as the adjacent rooms.
The Appeal Court occupied these premises until its move in 1929
to the more aesthetically pleasing building opposite the Council
Chambers. The building was officially opened by Oswald Pirow, then
Minister for Justice, on 1 October 1929. This also had the effect
of confirming Bloemfontein's status as the legal capital.
The
Appeal Court looks out on Bloemfontein's historic President Brand
Street with an air of restfulness and dignified calm that springs
from six decades of tradition and maturity.
The
classical simplicity of its austere grey walls speaks of the quiet
dignity of the proceedings within this court. At the National Convention
it was decided that the proposed Union of South Africa was to have
three capital cities, Cape Town as legislative capital, Pretoria
as administrative and Bloemfontein as the seat of the judicial authority.
The
principle rooms within the building are the court room and the
library, both on the upper floor. The court room is completely
panelled and fitted in stinkwood. The colour-scheme is rather
subdued and other furnishings, such as the antique brass fittings
and curtain hangings, give the court room an air of quiet dignity.
The accoustics, originally disappointing, have been improved and
are now exceptionally good. A stinkwood screen at the back of
the Bench has the Union Coat-of-Arms carved over the central opening,
and the openings in the wings are decorated with carved books
symbolising the Volumes of Sacred Law.
The library has alcoves at either end of its sixty-foot length and
has a gallery extending around the four sides of the central part.
In the front centre of the gallery the Coats-of-Arms of the provinces
are modelled in plaster and finishes in colour. Shelves of Burmese
teak form bays comfortably furnished with stinkwood tables and chairs
and armchairs upholstered in brown Moroccan hide. The valuable Sir
John Kotze collection, graciously sold to the Government for 800
pounds (R1600) is kept in the southern alcove.
In
addition to the many valuable law books by great legal minds from
various countries such as Baldus Bartolus, Grotius Voet, Huber,
Van der Keessel, Van Bijnkershoek, the library also houses busts
of various former Appeal Court Judges.
former
chief justices of the supreme court of appeal
