Leopold Greenberg (judge)
{{short description|South African judge}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = The Honourable
|name = Leopold Greenberg
|honorific-suffix = QC
|image =
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|order =
|office = Judge of the Appellate Division
|term_start = 1943
|term_end = 1955
|order1 =
|office1 = Judge President of the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa
|term_start1 = 1938
|term_end1 = 1943
|deputy1 =
|predecessor1 = Benjamin Tindall
|successor1 = Charles Barry
|order2 =
|office2 = Judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa
|term_start2 = 1924
|term_end2 = 1938
|birthname =
|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1885|3|21}}
|birth_place = Calvinia, Cape Colony
|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1964|9|12|1885|3|21}}
|death_place = Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa
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|alma_mater = South African College
|occupation =
|profession = Advocate
|signature =
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}}
Leopold Greenberg QC (21 March 1885 – 12 September 1964) was a South African judge who served as Judge President of the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa and Judge of Appeal.{{Cite book|title=Who's who of Southern Africa 1962|publisher=Wootton & Gibson (PTY) LTD|year=1962|location=Johannesburg|pages=338}}
Early life and education
Greenberg, who was Jewish, was born in Calvinia in the Cape Colony.{{Cite web|date=1964-09-15|title=Justice Greenberg, South African Jewish Leader, Dead; Was 79|url=https://www.jta.org/1964/09/15/archive/justice-greenberg-south-african-jewish-leader-dead-was-79|access-date=2021-04-08|website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|language=en-US}} He attended Grey College in Bloemfontein and in 1900, he relocated to Cape Town, to continue his studies at the South African College, where he obtained a BA (Hons.) degree. After graduating, he started working for a law firm in Johannesburg and studying part-time for his LLB degree, which he obtained in 1907.{{Cite book|last=Beyers|first=C. J.|title=Dictionary of South African biography: Vol IV|publisher=Human Sciences Research Council|year=1981|location=Pretoria|pages=198}}
Career
In May 1908, Greenberg was admitted to the Cape Town Bar, where he practised from 1909 to 1911. He was admitted to the Bar in Johannesburg in 1911 and took silk as a King's Counsel (K.C.) in 1924 (which became Queen's Counsel (Q.C.) on 6 February 1952), and almost four months after taking silk he became a judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court. Greenberg was appointed Judge President of Transvaal Division in 1938, and five years later he was appointed an appellate judge, in which capacity he served until his retirement in March 1955.{{Cite web|title=Supreme Court of Appeal: History|url=https://www.supremecourtofappeal.org.za/index.php/history|access-date=2021-03-24|website=www.supremecourtofappeal.org.za}}
Notable cases and awards
Greenberg was the presiding judge in the longdrawn-out trial of Daisy de Melker. After a trial that lasted thirty days, with sixty witnesses, he delivered an ex tempore judgment.{{Cite web|last=Tomlins|first=Marilyn Z.|date=2007|title=Daisy de Melker: South Africa's First Serial Killer Crime Magazine|url=http://www.crimemagazine.com/daisy-de-melker-south-africas-first-serial-killer-0|access-date=2021-03-24|website=www.crimemagazine.com}}
In 1954, the University of Cape Town conferred an honorary LLD upon him and in 1956, the University of the Witwatersrand, also honoured him with a LLD degree.{{Cite web|title=Honorary degrees awarded|url=https://www.uct.ac.za/main/explore-uct/awards/honorary-degrees/all|access-date=24 March 2021|website=uct.ac.za}}