Carole Lewis

Lewis was born on 26 October 1953 in Johannesburg in the former Transvaal Province.{{Cite web |date= |title=Lewis, Carole Hélène |url=http://www.justice.gov.za/sca/judges_cv.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828203217/http://www.justice.gov.za/sca/judges_cv.html |archive-date=2018-08-28 |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=Supreme Court of Appeal}} She matriculated at the Hyde Park High School in Hyde Park, Johannesburg. Thereafter she attended the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), where she completed a BA in law and Latin in 1973 and an LLB cum laude in 1975.{{Cite journal |date=2000 |title=Names in the news |url=https://www.gcbsa.co.za/law-journals/2000/firstterm/2000-firstterm-vol013-no1-pp17-18.pdf |journal=Advocate |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=17 |via=General Council of the Bar of South Africa}}{{Cite web |date=2007-08-01 |title=Public sector: Judges |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2007-08-01-public-sector-judges/ |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} During the final year of her degree, she received the Society of Advocates Prize for winning the moot competition.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2017 |title=University Gold Medal: Carole Lewis |url=https://www.wits.ac.za/media/wits-university/news-and-events/images/documents/citations/Citation_Justice%20Carole%20Lewis.pdf |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=10 March 2024 |website=University of the Witwatersrand}}

After serving her articles of clerkship, Lewis was admitted as an attorney in 1978, but she joined the Wits School of Law as a lecturer later that year. She worked there for the next 20 years, during which time she completed her LLM cum laude at the same university in 1985. She was appointed as an associate professor in 1987, promoted to full professor in 1988, and served as dean of the Faculty of Law between 1993 and 1998. As an academic, she specialised in private law, especially contract law.{{Cite web |last=Thamm |first=Marianne |date=2015-03-18 |title=Constitutional Court: JSC moves to fill vacancy after legal action threat |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-03-19-constitutional-court-jsc-moves-to-fill-vacancy-after-legal-action-threat/ |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}}

In addition to her academic work, she was the editor-in-chief of the Annual Survey of SA Law from 1992 to 1999 and general editor of the South African Law Journal in 2000. She served as a legal advisor to the Democratic Party during the negotiations to end apartheid and, after the 1994 general election, the post-apartheid Minister of Water Affairs, Kader Asmal, appointed her as an advisor on water law reform. She was also an acting judge in the High Court of South Africa in 1998 and 1999.

Lewis joined the bench permanently on 1 November 1999 as a judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division of the High Court. She served there for three years, during which time she was an acting judge in the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2002.

In November 2002, President Thabo Mbeki announced that he would elevate her permanently to the Supreme Court of Appeal; she joined the bench on 1 January 2003, alongside her Transvaal Division colleague Tom Cloete.{{Cite web |date=4 November 2002 |title=Mbeki appoints new judges |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/mbeki-appoints-new-judges-20021104 |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} She was the second woman to be appointed to the appellate court, after Leonora van den Heever.{{Cite journal |last=Nicholls |first=Caroline |author-link=Caroline Nicholls |date=25 May 2023 |title=The History of Women at the Supreme Court of Appeal |url=https://gcbsa.co.za/law-journals/2023/august/51-52.%20The%20history%20of%20women%20at%20Supreme%20court.pdf |journal=Advocate |pages=51–52}} Notable judgments written by Lewis included Ikea Trading und Design v BOE Bank and the judgment that was overturned by the Constitutional Court in S v Thebus.

Lewis retired in 2019.{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.supremecourtofappeal.org.za/index.php/history |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=Supreme Court of Appeal}} In May 2023, Stellenbosch University appointed her to chair an inquiry into allegations of nepotism by the university's vice-chancellor, Wim de Villiers.{{Cite web |last=Charles |first=Marvin |date=2 May 2023 |title=Retired SCA Judge Lewis to lead probe into allegations of nepotism against Stellenbosch vice-chancellor |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/retired-sca-judge-lewis-to-lead-probe-into-allegations-of-nepotism-against-stellenbosch-vice-chancellor-20230502 |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Charles |first=Marvin |date=1 July 2023 |title=Stellenbosch University nepotism report completed, council to meet |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/stellenbosch-university-nepotism-report-completed-council-to-meet-20230701 |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}

She is married to Stephen Lewis and has two children. She joined the Black Sash as a teenager in 1970 and joined Lawyers for Human Rights shortly after it was formed in 1979.

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.judgesmatter.co.za/c-h-lewis/ C. H. Lewis] at Judges Matter
• [https://www.gcbsa.co.za/law-journals/2009/december/2009-december-vol022-no3-pp22-24.pdf 2009 article] on legal writing

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Carole}}

Category:Living people

Category:1953 births

Category:20th-century South African judges

Category:21st-century South African judges

Category:South African women judges

Category:Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal (South Africa)

{{Authority control}}

Category:Lawyers from Johannesburg

Category:People from Johannesburg

Category:Academic staff of the University of the Witwatersrand

Category:University of the Witwatersrand alumni