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Former Acting Chief Justice, Mr. A.C. Alles passed away recently at the age of 91.

I had the good fortune to know him personally for over 30 years, meeting him at the home of his elder daughter Pamela, wife of Mr. Chrisantha Cooray, Chairman of the Hatton National Bank, who are close personal friends.

He was wonderfully humane person, wise' humorous, with a razor-sharp mind. Over the years, I began to talk with him on a myriad of subjects. Apart from his own analytical observations, he had a strong sense of right and wrong, rare quality these days! He had an elegant and a gentle sense of humour. I used to look forward to meeting him at these various social gatherings, purely to talk to him; it was, indeed, a refreshing pleasure.

He lived a full life of great achievement. He was born in Matale in 1911. After his primary education, he joined the Law College, obtaining First Class Honours in his law finals, enrolling as an advocate of the Supreme Court in 1939. In the same year he obtained his degree in laws at the University of London and immediately joined the Attorney-General's Dept. as a Crown Counsel, where he served for 20 years and functioned as a prosecutor in several important criminal cases, the White House murder case, the Wilpattu murder case amongst many other important cases.

In 1962 Mr. Alles was appointed Solicitor-General and was leading Counsel in the Bandaranaike Assassination Commission, ending his legal career serving as Chief Justice for a brief time. In 1964, he was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court, and as a member of the Court of Criminal Appeal, he sat on the Bench which heard the Kalattawa murder and the Kataragama Beauty Queen murder cases causing great interest amongst the public.

Justice Alles was probably the only ex-Supreme Court judge to write a 14 volume series on all the controversial and sensational murder cases in Sri Lanka. I have read them all, and, apart from the legal aspects of each case, he gives an eloquent history of each event, colourful or dismal portrayals of the individuals and his own views of the trial. They were factual, legalistic, interesting and readable.

Another excellent work by him was a very comprehensive treatise, recently updated, on the JVP, and the causes which led to the insurrections of 1971 and 1988.

This fascinated him and held his interest for years and we used to discuss this for hours when we met.

"A Glimpse of Paradise", his selected essays, fifteen in all on a variety of subjects and his three other publications on crime, 'Facets of the Criminal Law' and 'Celebrated British and American cases', sum up the complete works of this remarkable judge turned author. Perhaps the very best works of non-fiction in Sri Lanka. He was probably the only ex-judge who wrote so eloquently on the most sensational criminal cases of our times.

Mr. Alles loved life and lived it to the fullest. Apart from a very illustrious legal career and respected judge, he enjoyed travelling to some of the most exotic parts of the world and was President of the Orient Club for many years. After his retirement from the Bench, he lived quietly and with great dignity. The simplicity of the man is clearly illustrated by the fact that he wanted the simplest possible funeral, a cremation within 24 hours of his death, no flowers, no pall-bearers, not even an obituary notice until the funeral was over. His wishes were adhered to the letter. Ten days later a well-attended memorial service was held at St. Anthony's Church in Colpetty. His razor-sharp mind on legal matters, shaped by decades of experience, carried with it great compassion, sympathy and understanding. Such men are rare!!

Famous American poet Robert Frost said:

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But, I have promises to keep

And miles to go before I sleep".

Justice Anthony Christopher Alles kept his promises and travelled those miles before he slept!

-Anura Bandaranaike, Member of Parliament, Senior Advisor to the President on National Integration.

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