Louis Harms (judge)

Louis Theodor Christian Harms (born 11 October 1941) is a South African former deputy president of the Supreme Court of Appeal and Professor Extraordinary for Intellectual Property Law at the University of Pretoria.[1][2]

The Honourable
Louis Harms
Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa
In office
2008–2011
Preceded byLex Mpati
Succeeded byKenneth Mthiyane
Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa
In office
1993–2008
Judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa
In office
1986–1993
Personal details
Born
Louis Theodor Christian Harms

(1941-10-11) 11 October 1941
NationalitySouth African
SpouseAdvocate Irene Harms (daughter of former Chief Justice Frans Rumpff)
Children3
Alma materUniversity of Pretoria
ProfessionAdvocate

Education

Harms graduated from the University of Pretoria with a BA LL.B. (cum laude) in 1965 and the Hugo Grotius medal for best final year student.[3] He was awarded a LLD (hon causa) from the University of the Free State and the University of Pretoria in 2013.[4][5]

Biography

An advocate at the Pretoria Bar from 1966 to 1986, Harms was awarded senior advocate status in 1981 and appointed as a judge in 1986.[3] He served as a Judge of Appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal from 1993 to his appointment as Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2008, a position he held until his retirement in 2011.[2] He is infamous as the author of the Harms Report. Asked by President F.W.DeKlerk to investigate the State controlled death squads and political murders he set up what is known as the Harms Commission of Inquiry (Feb-Sept 1990). Suspected collusion with the apartheid state was implied after the release of the final report which denied the existence of death squads contradicted later by the mountains of evidence to the contrary uncovered by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The records at WITS University concluded: "The Harms Commission report, which was released in September 1990, failed to name any special units of the army or police, let alone any individual officers, as participants in the death squads. The report was denounced by opposition groups as a whitewash."http://historicalpapers-atom.wits.ac.za/harms-commission-of-inquiry-records;isad?sf_culture=en

He is the author of three legal books, including The Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights: A Case Book, which has been translated into Arabic, Chinese and Russian.[6]

Memberships and service

Harms served as vice chairman of the Council of the University of Pretoria from 1994 to 1996. Among his other Board roles was serving as a board member on the University of Western Australia Law Journal and for the Intellectual Property Journal, Osgood Hall Law School in Toronto. Harms was project leader on six criminal procedure issues from 1999 to 2003, and the chairman and sole member of four judicial commissions of inquiry in South Africa (1988 to 1990) – three dealing with corruption and related matters, and the other with political murders and other violent acts.[7]

Harms is an Honorary Fellow of the Arbitration Foundation of Southern Africa, the Arbitration Association (Southern Africa), an Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple, UK and also a member of the 4-5 Gray's Inn Square barristers' chambers in London.[8][9]

References
  1. ""Patentees under threat like rhinoceroses" | University of Pretoria". www.up.ac.za. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  2. "Supreme Court of Appeal: History". www.supremecourtofappeal.org.za. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  3. "News on the judiciary" (PDF). Consultus. 7 (1): 57. 1994 – via General Council of the Bar of South Africa.
  4. "UFS: Degrees and diplomas are awarded". www.ufs.ac.za. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  5. "Laureate Awards | Article | University of Pretoria". www.up.ac.za. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  6. Harms, L. T. C. (2005). The Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights: A Case Book. World Intellectual Property Organization. ISBN 978-92-805-1477-3.
  7. "Judiciary: Judge Louis Harms SCA DP: A singular colleague" (PDF). Advocate. 24 (3): 18. 2011 – via General Council of the Bar of South Africa.
  8. "Judge Louis Harms elected as Honorary Master of the Bench of the Middle Temple | University of Pretoria". www.up.ac.za. 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  9. "4-5 Gray's Inn Square". www.4-5.co.uk. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
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