Justice S R Wijayatilake’s birth anniversary today:

Justice tempered with mercy

Chelvathamby Maniccavasagar

Justice S R Wijayatilake, former Supreme Court Judge was born in Matale on May 17, 1912 and passed away on March 13, 1990. He received his early education at Ananda College Colombo. Having passed the Senior Cambridge and the London Matriculation Examinations, he joined the University College, Colombo where he was successful at the External Intermediate Examination of the University of London. Although, he had at first entertained thoughts of joining the medical profession, he however turned, not surprisingly, his footsteps towards Hulftsdorp. His three elder brothers were already lawyers.

He entered the Law College in 1935 and passed the Advocate's final examinations in the year 1939, at the Law College; he shared the gold medal with H.W. Jayawardana Q.C. In the Hector Jayawardana oratorical contest and functioned as the editor of the Law College magazine in 1935. He served his period of apprenticeship in the Chamber of several eminent Queen's Counsels such as N.E. Weerasuriya Q.C. and was called to the Bar as an Advocate of the Supreme Court on August 28, 1940 in the middle of the gathering storm in the international arena.

Although, he got into his stride in the profession at an early stage, yet he soon realized that his future was on the other side of the Bar Table and he answered the call of the Judicial service on April 22, 1948 as Additional Magistrate Colombo. Justice Wijayatilake was appointed as the Magistrate Kandy. District Judge, Point Pedro and later the District Judge Balapitiya from 1951-1954. From Balapitiya he went on transfer as District Judge Avissawella from 1954-1958.

Judicial career

From District Judge Avissawella, Justice Wijayatilake was appointed as Secretary of the Judicial Service Commission, then a prestigious post in the Judicial Service. Then he was appointed District Judge, Colombo, from this period began his steep, quick rise in the judicial career. He was made a Commissioner of Assize and assigned to Matara assizes. He reached the pinnacle of his career when he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court from 1968-1975.

The unique aspect of the life and career of Justice Wijayatilake was that he took a great interest in religious, social and cultural activities which have been called by him “Community Service”. His onerous judicial duties did not prevent him from spending an enormous amount of his time and leisure on these activities.

Religious activities was his forte as he was well versed in the Dhamma and was an able speaker having received such training in the literary society of his old school Ananda College, Colombo and the literary society of the Colombo YMBA of which he was the Literary Secretary for several years.

There was hardly a Dhamma school prize giving in the stations he served of which he was not the Chief Guest. He used every opportunity given to him to address the children in discipline, good conduct, in short, a Buddhist way of life.

When he was the District Judge, Balapitiya, he conceived the idea of establishing a home for the elders for the Balapitiya Judicial District. He persuaded a philanthropist the late D F Perera, paper merchant, to donate a spacious premises and a building for this purpose. He created a managing society for the home and, established this institution and became its first president. This elders' home is now a well-established and is recognized by the state.

Buddhist programmes

Apart from his Buddhist activities he was very much interested in the Boys’ Scout movement. He established a Boys’ Scouts movement regional headquarters at Avissawella and became the first president. Besides, he also established a carpentry training school for youth in Avissawella. Further, he took an interest in the welfare of the public officers at Avissawella and started the Public Service Recreation Club.

He was for several years the Secretary of the Literary Society of the YMBA and during this period he revived the Light of Asia contest. He was a member of the Buddhist Programmes Advisory Board of the SLBC. He delivered regular Buddhist talks and readings from “Dhammapada” over the radio.

In 1969, he published his book “Buddhist India” the “Pilgrim Path” after his pilgrimage to India. He donated the royalty and proceeds from this book to the Maha Bodhi societies of India and Ceylon in equal shares.

In 1970, he published his second book “The White Lotus” “Personality of the Buddha” a collection of essays on various aspects of Buddhism. These essays have been adapted from his contributions made during a period of about 12 years to the Daily News Vesak Annual, World Buddhism, The Buddhist (YMBA), “The Buddhist Annual” (M.D. Gunasena & Co), Ceylon Observer and “Vesak Annual”.

Buddhist way of life

Once, he delivered an address at the “Mangala Vihara”, Singapore on “Buddhism as a Positive Force”. Justice Wijayatilake joined the Ceylon Child Protection Society in 1960 and became its president in 1980. He was also the President of Prisoners’ Welfare Association for several years and he took a keen interest in the rehabilitation of prisoners. Indeed, the parents had moulded Justice Wijayatilake to lead a Buddhist way of life with a deep knowledge of the Dhamma. This life ultimately earned him the tribute of being the kindest and gentlest Judge of our time.

Justice Wijayatilake was the younger brother of Proctor S W Wijayatilake, S Abeuyratne Wijayatilake, and S P Wijayatilake. The distinguished educationalist S A Wijayatilake, former principal of Ananda College was his brother.

Justice Wijayatilake has two sons and a daughter. Eldest son who is a lawyer is a partner at Paul Ratnayake Associates and the daughter is a housewife while the youngest son is the present Solicitor General of Sri Lanka. Late Mrs S R Wijayatilake is the sister of former Supreme Court Judge R S Wanasundera and came from a well-known family in Ratnapura.

Indeed, Justice Wijayatilake was a model Judge. He was fair minded, able, industrious, patient and above all courteous. His contribution to the law was multifaceted. He was the lecturer in Civil Procedure at Law College for several years when he was District Court Judge, Colombo. He was editor of the official law reports, and principal of Law College after his retirement from the bench. He declined to accept other positions offered to him after retirement, such as to chair Commissions of Inquiry etc.

As a human being, he was extraordinary, deeply religious, humanitarian, unassuming and kind, combined with a razor sharp mind which tempered Justice with mercy.

Justice S. R. Wijayatilake

He who has achieved Success, is he who has lived well,
Laughed often, relaxed much;
Loved others and was loved by everybody,
Who has gained the respect and admiration of intelligent Men,
And the love of Children;
Who has filled his niche and accomplished his task,
Kindness, Simplicity, Honesty and Humility considered as “Assets”,
Who has foremost qualities of Human-Emotion, Creativity and Intelligence
The wealth that was precious to him, was his devoted family and loving kith and kin,
In the role of Husband, Father and Grandfather the performance he excelled;
“Ratnapala” as his name implies – the multifaceted Gem, so rare and exquisite,
As Lawyer, Judge, Teacher, Administrator and Social Worker,
Whose lustre remains forever, with the ‘Dhamma’ he practised,
In all these fields, he had only one aim,
To gently encourage the people, in his activities,
To do as much “good” as possible, expecting nothing in return;
Extending his hand to the needy, with much compassion,
Whose kind voice was the resonance from his heart;
Who leaves the Word, better than he found it,
Who never lacked appreciation of Earth’s beauty or failed to express it,
Who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had,
And lived his Life to the fullest making everybody around him happy.
In loving memory of late Justice S.R. Wijayatilake
With love and gratitude for the guidance given to us.

- A family member
(This poem appeared in the Daily News on March 6, 2006)