Exciting episodes of a practising lawyer

Reviewed by Sarath Lewke Bandara

It is an off-repeated aphorism among the legal fraternity that forensic success is written on the sands of time. Whatever may be the truth of this, 60 years of an active career first as a Proctor of the Supreme Court, thereafter as an Advocate and now as an Attorney-at-Law is indeed a feat that should be reckoned as an achievement of singular significance specially for the reason that it has been one of great skill, ability and integrity where the pursuit of the lucre has always been one of secondary importance.

Edmand Wijerama who holds the singular distinction of having started his practice at the Balapitiya Bar in 1951 and thereafter as an Advocate till the two branches of the legal practice were fused in the 1970s was felicitated by the members of the Balapitiya Bar in November 2011 having completed 60 years at the Bar and still enjoys an illustrious career as the senior most legal practitioner in the Southern province.

After he reverted to practising civil law as an advocate he is to date regarded as one of the most knowledgeable and highly relied upon civil lawyers of the South. It is indeed most laudable that despite his practice and advancing years he has been able to put pen to paper to recount his varied experiences at the bar by way of autobiographical notes which have been compiled into a highly readable memories.

Although the book does not sound to be didactic and pontifical, it contains great insights into the practical application of the law in a manner befitting a member of this noble profession and should be an invaluable guide to every entrant to the Bar.

Men and matters

The work is replete with Wijerama's interaction with lawyers in the provincial bar as well as legal giants from the metropolis. It also recounts his relationship with the - Bench, the Magistrate Court, the District Court and the Azizes - which at that time were more often than not graced by men of great, learning and integrity of personalities such as SR Wijetilaka, J.F.A. Soza, Sir Alan Rose, Keyt, Krishnadasan to name a few. His narrative shows his unerring memory for detail and his style depicts an ability to describe men and matters with so much of life and colour.

His early practice in the Magistrate's Court of Balapitiya seems to have been enlivened by many a humorous incident. He recalls how he defended two schoolboys who were charged with gambling in a kind of pin ball machine installed in a boutique where a ball is shot across a board to fall into a particular slot for which the successful person is entitled to a monetary stake. Wijerama's defence was that the two schoolboys had been meddling with the machine out of sheer curiosity with no intention to gamble. His plea was successful and the schoolboys were discharged.

Almost following this case, the next case was called which was also for gambling. The lawyer who was absent when the case was called suddenly rushed into court and without as much as glance at his clients but remembering Wijerama's defence, submitted that his clients were innocent schoolboys. It was only when the learned Magistrate interposed as to what school they were attending that the lawyer was forced to have a hard look at his clients who were two bearded men long past their youth.

The lawyer however not to be outdone took up the defence that they were attending night school and that they were now old boys of the night school. The Magistrate thereupon asked the lawyer to plead guilty and accused were fined with the remark that they are dealt with lightly because of the impassioned plea of the lawyer!

Dubious reputation

Balapitiya is well known as a peaceful maritime town with its peculiar traditions, customs and rituals. There is even a particular accent born out of the occupation of the inhabitants of cinnamon growing and peeling, fishing and the manufacture of coconut by-products.

The "Maadu Ganga" flows quietly through it with the keen interest it evokes in the environmentalist as well as the sightseer. Balapitiya is also renowned for its philanthropists and as a centre of Buddhist revivals symbolised by the Maha Kappina Walauwa. However, due to a microscopic minority of the criminal fringe, Balapitiya has earned a dubious reputation as a violent and criminal area.

During the many decades of his career as a criminal lawyer, his practice reflects the drama, intrigue adventure and the plotting and planning of the criminal elements and how they manifested themselves in the criminal courts. One case in point is where he narrates with exciting detail of the case of a man with high connections in the village was shot point blank in the night when he was seated on the floor of his verandah facing the road by the assailant who stood on the opposite side of the road.

Although there was no sketch made of the scene of the crime at the non-summary stage, the learned Magistrate's notes made at the crime scene had specifically noted that the nearest lamp post was at a distance of 100 yards from the scene of the shooting.

Therefore, in view of this grave deficiency in the identification of the assailant the Magistrate discharged the accused at the non-summary stage itself.

Highly chagrined and crestfallen by the turn of events the relatives and friends of the deceased were able to persuade the local body to shift the lamp post and cause it to be fixed almost of the alleged point of shooting. Having thus set the stage for a perfect crime, and a sure conviction, the kith and kin of the deceased petitioned the Attorney General who was eventually persuaded to indict the suspect for murder in the Galle Azizes.

The case speaks volumes for the legal acumen and forensic skill of the late Advocate Norman Vidyaratne, another great son of Balapitiya who later graced the Chair of the Speaker of the House of Representatives as well as that of Wijerama who instructed counsel for the defence.

They made an in-depth study of the Magistrate's notes filed in the non-summary proceedings which at that time was not a part of the Azizes Brief. Even before the trial commenced and jury empanelled they were able to persuade the presiding. S.C. Judge to get down the Magistrate's notes and to point out the observations in the Magistrate's notes regarding the pivotal position of the lamp post vis-a-vis the scene of shooting.

The great quality of those presiding judges in the Azizes of those days is reflected in the manner in which he responded to their application and from that point onwards took on the investigation into his hands by summoning the electrical engineer who was responsible for the fixing of lamp post and was able to quickly unravel the plot which otherwise would have led to a utter miscarriage of justice and perhaps an innocent man would have been hanged. Thus, the case was "crashed" by the S.C. Judge as is commonly referred to an abrupt termination of criminal trial without proceeding to trial.

Common sense

This is one great example the great sagacity of those experienced judges who not only possessed a great deal of common sense but also their keen sense of justice and fair play quite in contrast to the scenario prevailing today in which in the name of justice delayed, justice is buried and we see a trend where those holding the scales of justice are attempting to establish records by the numbers of convictions they make or by delivering the greatest number of judgements in one day, regardless of the damage caused to the cause of justice and the untold hardship to those engaged in litigation.

Before the establishment of the High Courts in the provinces, crimes of serious nature on which indictment was served by the Attorney General were tried by the judges of the Supreme Court in the Azizes in each province. Wijerama practising mostly in Galle Azizes would have seen the pomp and pageantry at the opening of the sessions where the arena was set for nerve-racking battle between 'deadly' prosecution and equally skilled "criminal lawyers for the defence".

Their show of forensic skill and thrust and parry of wit and legal combat were skilfully umpired by such greats like T.S. and H.N.G. Fernando, E.H.T. Gunasekera, Sri Skandaraja and the like.

Today when most criminal cases in the High Court are conducted without the jury, the forensic skill and the persuasive ability of a criminal lawyer are not put to the acid test as Wijerama highlights in this book. He cites the example of one case where he instructed an eminent advocate Siva Rajaratnem in a case of murder in the Azizes before an English speaking jury. The facts of the case were against the accused and the State Counsel made out an air-tight case for the prosecution.

However, the Defence Counsel exploited the right of reply to his advantage and he made a very exhaustive and impassioned address to the jury.

On the other hand, the presiding judge's charge to the jury was highly weighted against the accused. In the circumstances both Wijerama and the advocate were expecting the worst.

However, after a nail-biting wait for about one hour the jury returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty. Later on their way to New Oriental Hotel which was the only respectable Hotel in Galle for lawyers to retire after an exhausting trial; they met the foreman of the jury who came out with the reason for their verdict and stated that the verdict was to be given on a Poya Day (which was a working day at that time) and therefore jury being all Buddhists, were loathe to commit a man to death and decided to acquit the accused. They were also persuaded by the impassioned address to the jury by the Defence Counsel.

The book is full of several other anecdotes about lawyers and the author's friend the great Bevis Bawa. Out of all this wealth of details about men, good and bad, and matters, pleasant and unsavoury, one golden thread that can be discerned is that here is a man who had devoted his life and energy to upholding the traditions of the legal profession with his dedication to duty by his clients within the strict boundaries of the law.

He never depended on his clerks in the research of the facts and details for his clients defence. Punctuality was such a great trait in him that when ill health prevented him from being in his office to meet his clients early morning he decided to give up proctoring and embarked in a totally new path of an advocate in which profession he enjoys and illustrious practice to date.

Wijerama's memories are very illustrative record of the evolution of the legal profession and of the judiciary from its glorious part to its present day where both the Bench and the Bar are at the cross roads.

Wijerama's ideal of a sturdy independent and a fearless bar and of a judiciary with a non-negotiable independence and devotion to justice fairplay and to the rule of law is becoming an elusive dream with every passing hour like the proverbial quest for a mirage in the vast desert which he predicts in the chapter "About the Future" with the lucid clairvoyance of an ancient seer.