Mr justice Maurice A. Charles has the unique distinction of having been a judge in Guyana, Ghana and Canada during a distinguished career in the practice of law. Born in Guyana, he passed his solicitor’s certificate in 1944 and completed his LLB at the University of London in 1952 before immigrating to Canada in 1967. As a member of Britain’s Overseas Judicial Service, he exercised civil and criminal jurisdiction in Guyana during 1952- 56 before his transfer to Ghana. In 1959, he was promoted to the post of judge in Ghana’s High Court where he served until 1967. After qualifying as a barrister and solicitor of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1969, Mr Justice Charles was appointed to the Ontario provincial judiciary and became the first black criminal court judge in that province. He retired in 1995 but continues to practise criminal law and to act in an advisory capacity on difficult cases.
CHARLES, Maurice
