Book Review:

Lore of the Law by S.L. Gunesekera

Gomin DAYASRI

Name it, it's there in plentiful: ingredients required to attract contempt of court, breach of parliamentary privileges, libel and every conceivable wrong known to mankind. The reputations of the ‘repute’ and the practices of the ‘disrepute’ are bashed at a level above the navel, graciously, never below the belt.

S. L. Gunesekera

None touched will dare to become a daredevil and challenge the contents. Highlighted are features that will comprehensively negative any such bizarre thought- Public Interest, No Malice, Justifiably well meaning Jest, Truth and still more, the name of a sterling author, to make such an exercise, totally anti-septic.

Care to think otherwise and step into the ring, sure, ‘S.L’ will make a meal with a grin and grimace.

Narrative shows a hero-worshipped father, former Supreme Court judge - many lawyers who knew the old man intimately are of like mind- of a judge who lived with judicial aplomb; which SL boldly queries of, in his time.

In his world, judges are not molly-coddled on cotton wool. He respects those deserving unlike some prominent lawyers who hardly have a good word for retired judges. Respect earned by a teacher or judge or policeman - can be truly gauged on the treatment received on retirement. SL deservingly dedicates his book to a teacher in his old school.

Landmark judgments

His mother made crosses before Christian/Catholic/Evangelical pulpits and then the good lady abandoned them and became a free Christian thinker and guided with her blessings the progeny on a nationalistic trail. Did she appreciate the son true to his convictions becoming an agnostic? A woman with a vision knows an agnostic is not an apostate.

SL is a man without decorations before or after his name. As revealed in the book, he is no respecter of persons but of principles. Nation owes a gratitude to parents that produced such a son. Take a peep into a folk museum to examine the background.... a simple life led by a respected judge and his god fearing/daring wife- conditions under which landmark judgments were written with the aid of an Aladin lamp and without a telephone.

Well versed in the Bible (prize winner at scripture) his views on God and religion under the influence of Bertrand Russell is in the domain of sardonic wit but makes no attempt to belittle like a Christopher Hitchens.

A venerated Buddhist monk whom SL respected, told me of the ‘medicinal oil’ SL imbibed in the evenings on his many journeys to the Vanni, to safeguard displaced villagers, would always be a distance away from the temple gate where he resided for the night sleeping on a mat: though the right of partaking was sanctioned (without any request) in a secluded corner, knowing the thirst of a weary traveller.

Social obligation

Always tolerant of another's belief: he valued our indigenous rich civilization that made Men - from whom diverse Gods can learn many lessons. He handles the chapter reverently without placing a holder of a saintly title of a ‘God’ on the reverse side to read.

His parents together with S.Thomas’ and its merited pedagogues made him the fearless ‘Gunesekera’ with true Thomian blood and grit unlike those ‘Thoras’ whose social obligation rested with a few back slaps of mates on an annual pilgrimage to a cricket match. S. Thomas’ in its greatness/hollowness, on which the author elaborates, moulds several characters of his time true to their proper upbringing.

Salutations for sturdy Kaloo Wije (wild escapades including a lightning charge at Plantain Point): Titillated by the pranks of Tuttu Abeysekera (screamed ‘Ado Chief Justice Hooo’ at eyeball level to be outsmarted for his pluck in the exercise of free expression by the quick wit of an acting chief justice): Genuine warmth to his dear friend planter Herman Malinga Guneratne (torn of S. Thomas’ in the eyes of a Warden): those starved gangs of food raiders from the college boarding, brings out the best of the authors unexpurgated anecdotes.

Many other unforgettable honourable schoolboys of his vintage are affectionately referred to in the book with their salty nicknames, incapable for a contemporary from another school.

Narration of his days as an appointed MP from the SLFP of Mrs Bandaranaike, signing the impeachment motion, helps to place the record straight on aspects unknown. The banter in Parliament is low key though friendly arrows are thrown with gay abandon to make it hilarious more than historic.

Colourful personalities

The chapters on colourful personalities in court are down memory lane when sturdy men in black were on parade with distinction.

SL is too kind to his own tribe by not taking the cane in hand with which he raps others hard in the malpractices associated in the administration of justice. S.L, a gentle soul (unless ruffled and wronged which might make him a bull terrier) notwithstanding an appearance of a hard exterior, lives a life on a ‘machang’ wavelength with his friends and family, which he describes vividly. A simple man if you knew him well.

In his innocence, wistful of a just society, he suggests many reforms to the administration of justice. An idealist at work forgetting “many lawyers stand as guilty as all others associated in dispensing justice distorting the system of administering justice’(Quote is mine alone). Incurable until possibly an iron clad mythical Chief Justice steps into the breach.

SL is against granting dates ‘on personal ground’- forget it chum, some lawyers are permanently in a state of delicate health; susceptible to weird infections that Rasputin cannot diagnose, mostly on days when not ready with their cases. Poor judges are helpless; some are helpful.

The criteria for nominating Presidents Counsel which SL states is an unsatisfactory practice: whose fraternity exceeds in numbers “too large to fill a moderately sized passenger train”. Chuck it mate; let's not derail the Underground with its long queue shoving each other wending its way to the political ticket office. May their tribe increase hundredfold and let’s watch in silence the packed classless compartments pass with human cargo. The deserving sit upright in a first class carriage.

Non-payment of fees, which SL complains of, is never a problem. Answer-decline to go to court on the next day in the absence of the fees fully settled of previous dues of counsel and more importantly of your juniors. I decided to hang my boots after working close to 40 years on that simple formula. Clients from individuals to the largest of corporates to foreign bodies have discharged their obligations honourably. Just keep to your word and the word gets around.

Legal profession

He does not forget the members of the outstation bars, many better rounded in the graces of men and matters and in the spread of culture, literature and knowledge than those whose names are better known merely because they hail from the metropolis.

The spiciest chapter is in the height of his vagabond days, as Editor of the outspoken Sinhala daily newspaper, ‘Davasa’. Brave and honest media men are the boldest among the professionals and SL's presence would have given them added impetus. Would he care to revert on retiring from the legal profession to contribute more to the press and give zest to media freedom and send a few shivers down the spines of politicians? That chapter should be made compulsory reading for cub journalists.

In an age where lawyers print statutes with a few interpolations of their own and pass them off as ‘books of learned men’, it is rare to read a manuscript that is truly original and authentic. Never before or ever after will you pick a book on Hulftsdorf, so explosive, electrifying and entertaining.