Alvin Robert Cornelius
| The Honorable Chief Justice Alvin Robert Cornelius |
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| Justice Alvin Robert Cornelius (1903-1991) | |
| 4th Chief Justice of Pakistan | |
| President | FM Ayub Khan |
| Nominated by | FM Ayub Khan |
| Appointed by | FM Ayub Khan |
| 2nd Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board | |
| In office September 16, 1960 – May 14, 1963 |
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| President | FM Ayub Khan |
| Preceded by | FM Ayub Khan |
| Succeeded by | Muzafar Hussain |
| In office March 6, 1949 – May 18, 1953 |
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| President | Nazir Ahmad Khan |
| Governor General | Khawaja Nazimuddin Malik Ghulaam |
| Prime Minister | Liaquat Ali Khan Khawaja Nazimuddin |
| Preceded by | Iftikhar H. Khan |
| Succeeded by | Abdus Sattar Pirzada |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Alvin Robert Cornelius 8 May 1903 Agra, British Indian Empire |
| Died | 21 December 1991 (aged 88) Lahore, Punjab Province |
| Citizenship |  British subject (1903-1947) Pakistan (1947-1991) |
| Alma mater | Allahabad University Selwyn College, Cambridge. |
| Occupation | Judge, Jurist |
| Profession | Barrister |
| Religion | Christianity (Roman Catholic) |
| National Awards | Hilal-i-Pakistan |
Chief Justice Alvin "Bobby" Robert Cornelius (Urdu: الوین رابرٹ كورنيليس; May 8, 1903 — December 21, 1991), HPk, was the Pakistani jurist and judge, serving as the 4th Chief Justice of Pakistan from 1960 until 1968.
Cornelius was born in Agra, Uttar Pradesh in British Indian Empire, to a Urdu-speaking Christian family, who raised in secular mode. Educated and graduated from the Allahabad University in India and Selwyn College of Cambridge University in United Kingdom, Cornelius given commissioned in the Indian Civil Service and was the assistant commissioner in the Punjab Province, starting his judicial career in the Lahore High Court in 1943, later joining the Justice department of Punjab government. During this time, Cornelius became a recognize jurist, publishing two important text books in legal history and democracy during his life career. Cornelius also became an active leading activist for the Pakistan Movement, seeing it as a solution to ill-treatment of Muslims and Christians in subcontinent and India, while at the same time being a way to "revive the nationalism spirit.[1]
In 1946, Cornelius was elevated at the associate judge at the Lahore High Court, and opting for Pakistan, Cornelius became an important figure in country's legal history. Initially serving as the law secretary for Law Minister Jogendra Nath Mandal and Prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan, Cornelius played an integral role setting the court system while advising the law minister and the prime minister. Among his notable cases included the actions defending Non-Muslims rights (Freedom of religion), Bogra case against the Presidential reserve powers (see inactive Article 58(2)B of the VIII Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan), defending workplace and labor laws, sports law in Pakistan Cricket Board. Cornelius was regarded a man of justice, warning and fighting against the religious extremism, as he quoted in his case, "A general feeling of [great] despair, a widespread of [self] confidence... and common readiness in the anticipate the worst".[2]
In 1960, President Ayub Khan nominated Cornelius to become the Chief Justice of Pakistan, his contested was briefly discussed, but eventually elevated as the Chief Justice.[2] Alvin Robert Cornelius was the first became the first Christian chief justice, becoming one of the most famous and influential figures ever to serve on the supreme court.[2] After his ejection from the supreme court, Cornelius remained influential and was a symbol protecting the rights of minorities, freedom of religious practices, whilst serving as the legal adviser to successive Government of Pakistan on judicial matters.[2] His opinions, according to legal scholars in Pakistan, were some of the greatest defences of "freedom of religion" written by a Christian Chief Justice of a Muslim state.[3]
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[edit] Early life
[edit] Family Roots and education
Alvin Robert Cornelius was born on May 8, 1903, in Agra, United Provinces of British Indian Empire, to a Christian Urdu-speaking class.[4] His family was of the Anglo-Indian ancestry, and his parents Professor I.J. Cornelius and Tara D' Rozario were the notable figures of the Roman Catholics community India.[4] His father was a professor of mathematics at the college a the princely state of one of the Indore colleges.[5] He was brought up on secular mode while living in secular Urdu-speaking Muslim community, and was a close friend of lawyer Ibrahim Ismail Chundrigar.[4] Cornelius was admitted at the Allahabad University after passing the university entrance exam in 1920.[4] After admitting at the Law school of the Allahabad University, Cornelius gained his B.S. in Mathematics and LLB in Civil law, with writing a comprehensive thesis on history of Religious law in 1924.[4]
Cornelius joined the law faculty of the university, working there as a research associate, and wining the government scholarship to pursue further education abroad.[4] The same year, Cornelius went to United Kingdom for his higher education, he was admitted at the Cambridge University, attending the Selwyn College to study law.[4] In 1926, Cornelius graduated with LLM in Law and Justice, and submitted his fundamental thesis on Western law.[4] After reluctantly returning to India, Cornelius took the entrance exam and given commissioned as an officer at the Indian Civil Service, joining the Department of Law of the Government of Punjab.[6]
[edit] Career in law
He joined the Indian Civil Service in 1926. He served in Punjab, where he held the positions of Assistant Commissioner and District and Sessions Judge till 1943 when he joined Law Department of Government of Punjab as Legal Remembrancer. In 1946 Mr. Cornelius was elevated to the Bench of Lahore High Court.
[edit] Pakistan Movement
Cornelius was the notable Christian figures in the Pakistan Movement, closely collaborating with secular leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah.[7] Cornelius was an active activist for the Pakistan Movement, among one of the outspoken speaker of the movement, working to rallying the support for the Pakistan Movement. Unlike the opposition led by renowned Muslim leader Abul Kalam Azad to oppose the division of India, Cornelius felt that that the re-creation of the Muslim homeland in India was one of key solution to ill-treatment of Muslims by the British government and the among the leaders of the Congress Party of India, while at same time he revived the nationalism spirit.[8] Cornelius assisted Jinnah drafting the Pakistan Resolution, adding the legal clauses and articles justifying the rights of Muslims majority, non-Muslim communities and the ill-treatment of under-class both Non-Muslims and Muslims by the Congress Party in 1941.[8] His activism grew strong and deeper after accepting a legal position in the Punjab government, where he would go on to establish the court system of the newly created country.[8] Cornelius was among one of the earliest citizens of newly created country, Pakistan, opting the country's citizenship as well as taking a federal law government assignment in the government of Liaquat Ali Khan.[8]
[edit] Supreme Court of Pakistan
In 1950-51, Cornelius was the secretary of Law and Labour at the Ministry of Law, Labour headed by Jogendra Nath Mandal. In 1951, following the assassination Prime minister Liaqat Ali Khan, Cornelius left the government assignment instead appointed as the associate judge of Supreme Court of Pakistan in November 1951 and continued as Judge with regular intervals till 1953 when he was confirmed as a Senior Judge of the Federal Court of Pakistan.
[edit] Borgra vs. Governor-General
In 1954, the National Assembly of Pakistan tried to change the constitution to establish checks on the Governor-General's powers, in order to prevent a repeat of what had happened to Nazimuddin's government. In response, Ghulam Muhammad dismissed the Assembly, an action that was challenged in the Supreme Court. Ghulam Muhammad emerged victorious when the Chief Justice Muhammad Munir upheld the dismissal in a split decision, despite the dissenting opinion written by the renowned Justice (later Chief Justice) A. R. Cornelius, and despite protests from the members of the Assembly.[9]
[edit] Chief Justice of Pakistan
Justice A.R. Cornelius was appointed as the Chief Justice of Pakistan in 1960.[10]
[edit] Cricket
Cornelius was closely associated with the Lahore Gymkhana Cricket Club which played at Bagh-e-Jinnah. He was the main founding figure of Pakistan cricket after partition. Cornelius one of the three original vice-Presidents of the Pakistan Cricket Board (then B.C.C.P.) and became Chairman of the working committee, serving until he first relinquished his connection with the Board in early 1953. Cornelius was in September 1960 made Chairman of the first Ad Hoc Committee, created to run cricket in Pakistan until May 1963. Cornelius's proudest achievement in cricket was to found the Pakistan Eaglets, an informal club of promising young Pakistani cricketers, which made tours of England in 1952 and 1953 in preparation for the first full Test tour of England in 1954.
[edit] Death
Cornelius died at the age of 88 on 21 December 1991, in Lahore and was buried in the city's Christian cemetery.
[edit] Works
- Law and judiciary in Pakistan; Lahore Law Times Publications; (1981)
- The ethical basis for democracy in Pakistan; Hamdard National Foundation, Pakistan; (1971)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Chief Justice Cornelius of Pakistan: An Analysis With Letters and Speeches, by Ralph Braibanti [ISBN 0-19-579018-9]
- Judging the State: Courts and Constitutional Politics in Pakistan, by Paula R. Newberg [ISBN 0-521-89440-9]
- ^ Staff Report. "Home » Local » Christians played vital role in Pakistan Movement Christians played vital role in Pakistan Movement". Daily Pakistan. Pakistan Daily. http://www.daily.pk/christians-played-vital-role-in-pakistan-movement-5871/. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
- ^ a b c d Gabriel, Theodore P. C. (2007). Christian citizens in the Islamic state: Pakistan experience. England, United Kingdom: Ashgate Publishing Limited. pp. 120. ISBN 978-0-7546-6024-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=_Fv3jsK3baEC&pg=PA104&dq=Chief+Justice+Alvin+RObert+Cornelius&hl=en&sa=X&ei=sdIxT52UJvPYiAK4xe2jCg&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Chief%20Justice%20Alvin%20RObert%20Cornelius&f=false.
- ^ Nasir Iqbal (April 24, 2011). "A Soft opening to Judicial past". The Dawn Newspapers. http://www.dawn.com/2011/04/24/a-soft-opening-into-judicial-past.html. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Ralph Braibanti (1999). Chief Justice Cornelius of Pakistan: An Analysis With Letters and Speeches. Karachi, Oxford University Press: Oxford University Press, 1999. pp. 389. ISBN 978-0-1957-9018-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=yMWbAAAAMAAJ&q=Chief+Justice+Cornelius+of+Pakistan:+An+Analysis+With+Letters+and+Speeches&dq=Chief+Justice+Cornelius+of+Pakistan:+An+Analysis+With+Letters+and+Speeches&hl=en&ei=pdwxT9fGFenbiALe_-2NCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=1&ved=0CDkQ6wEwAA.
- ^ Studies in contemporary Islam. Center for Islamic Studies, 2000. Center for Islamic Studies, 2000. ISBN Youngstone State University. http://books.google.com/books?ei=ROAxT56IKoSYiAKl3eyxCg&ct=book-thumbnail&id=s1QkAQAAIAAJ&dq=Alvin+RObert++Cornelius&q=Alvin+Robert++Cornelius#search_anchor.
- ^ Paula R. Newberg (1995). Judging the State: Courts and Constitutional Politics in Pakista. United Kingdom, Pakistan: Cambridge University Press. pp. 285. ISBN 0-521-45289-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=PbSeGQO3xdsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Judging+the+State:+Courts+and+Constitutional+Politics+in+Pakistan,+by+Paula+R.+Newberg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Kt0xT-2AHav9iQL_mpmqCg&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false.
- ^ Snippet view (2000). Impact international. Karachi, Pakistan: Snippet view. http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=Alvin+RObert++Cornelius&btnG=.
- ^ a b c d Hephaestus Books (2011). Pakistani Roman Catholicism. Karachi, Pakistan: Hephaestus Books. ISBN 978-1-2427-3254-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZlXNygAACAAJ&dq=Alvin+RObert++Cornelius&hl=en&ei=DuQxT9PJLqKuiQLjkYGSCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=4&ved=0CEQQ6wEwAw.
- ^ http://www.dawn.com/weekly/dmag/archive/040718/dmag18.htm
- ^ Khurram Ali Shafique (January 14, 2011). "Cornelius and Sharia law". Danw Newspapers, January 14, 2011. http://www.dawn.com/2011/01/14/cornelius-and-sharia-law.html. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
| Preceded by Muhammad Shahabuddin |
Chief Justices of Pakistan | Succeeded by S. A. Rahman |
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