Obituaries

ALASTAIR JAMES KERR
(January 18, 1922 – September 29, 2010)

RHODES University Professor Emeritus Alastair Kerr, SC, a man some have described as having had one of the most formidable legal intellects in the country, has died in Grahamstown, aged 88.

Although born in Biggar, Scotland in 1922, Kerr was raised at Fort Hare University – formerly the South African Native College – where his father, Dr Alexander Kerr, was the founding principal. According to a tribute to Kerr on the Rhodes University website, his association with Rhodes stretched back over a period of some 70 years to 1939, when he enrolled as a student for a BA degree majoring in history and geography.

After war service in the Navy, from 1942 to 1946, he obtained his LLB degree from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1948. He returned as a lecturer to Rhodes in 1955. In 1960, he was awarded his LLM by the University of Natal and in 1972 obtained his PhD from the same university.

He had, by this time, been promoted to professor of law at Rhodes. He was also the Senate representative on the Rhodes University Council for 12years. Kerr served as head of department from 1984 to 1987 and Dean of Law from 1984 to 1990, when he finally retired after 35 years of active service to the university. The university bestowed the title Emeritus Professor upon him, later to be followed by the honorary title of Distinguished Fellow of the University.

Rhodes University Law Faculty colleague Graham Glover said Kerr had retained an office in the faculty and had worked there right up until the day before he went into hospital for a heart operation some six weeks ago. Although Prof Kerr’s heart operation was considered a success, he had fallen and injured his head while leaving the hospital in Port Elizabeth. He never recovered and died in Settlers Hospital, Grahamstown, on Wednesday.

Kerr was a prolific writer whose academic work focused on the fields of contract law and customary law. Some of his monographs were ranked as the leading works in their fields in South African law and had run to many editions. He also produced over 100 publications in accredited journals. “He was, at the height of his powers, one of the most formidable intellects in the South African legal system,” said Glover.

A former student of Kerr’s, Supreme Court of Appeal President Judge Lex Mpati said Kerr would always be remembered as an integral part of the Rhodes Law Faculty. “It will be the poorer without him,” Mpati said.

Kerr’s outstanding contribution to legal education and to the law in general was recognised in 1993 when the State President appointed him as senior counsel.

In 1995, Rhodes University conferred on him an honorary LLD degree.

- By ADRIENNE CARLISLE