Henry Thambiah

Thambiah was born on 28 May 1906 in Jaffna in northern province of Ceylon.[3] He was the son of David Thambiah, a surveyor, and Thangamma, daughter of Dr William Thillayampalam Paul and sister of Dr S. C. Paul. Both his parents died when he was child.[4] Thambiah was educated at St. John's College, Jaffna and Jaffna Central College from where he passed the London matriculation in the first division.[3][4] His ambition was to be an engineer. After school he entered University College, Colombo and graduated in 1928 with a BSc (Hons) degree in maths and physics.[3][4] He taught physics for a year before becoming interest in the legal profession. He joined Ceylon Law College in 1930 and qualified as an attorney-at-law in 1933, winning a prize for coming first in the examinations.[3][4] He received a LLB (Hons) degree from the University of London in 1934, coming first amongst overseas students.[3]

Thambiah married Leela, daughter of C. D. A. Sherrard from Point Pedro. They have four children – Gulendran, Rajendran Jeyanathan, Rajeswari and Anthony Sudir.[3]

After qualifying Thambiah practised law. Thambiah also worked as a visiting lecturer University of Ceylon and Ceylon Law College and an examiner at the Council of Legal Education between 1938 and 1953.[3][4][5] He obtained a PhD from the University of London in 1949 and in 1954 he was called to the Inner Temple.[3][4] In 1956 he became a QC.[3][4] He then joined the judicial service in 1956, serving as a Commissioner of Assize for five years before being appointed to the Supreme Court in 1960.[3] He was a Supreme Court judge for twelve years.

After retiring Thambiah moved to West Africa, serving as a judge on the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone and an appeals court judge in the Gambia.[3] He was awarded a LLD by the University of London in 1973 for his services to Sri Lankan law.[4] He was president of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka from 1974 to 1976.[6] Thambiah returned to Sri Lankan in 1975 and started the Tamil section of the Law Faculty at the University of Colombo.[3] He served as the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Canada from September 1975 to December 1977.[3][4] He then served as chair of the Law Commission.

Thambiah was awarded the Deshamanya title, the second highest civilian honour in Sri Lanka, in 1993.[3] He died in 1997 aged 91.[4]

Thambiah wrote many books during his life:[3]

• Dominion of Ceylon
• Landlord and Tenant in Ceylon
• Law of Insolvency
• Laws and Customs of the Tamils of Jaffna (1950, Times of Ceylon)
• Laws and Customs of the Tamils of Ceylon (1954)
• Principles of Ceylon Law
• Sinhala Laws and Customs (1968)
• The Judicature of Sri Lanka in its Historical Aspects

• List of Sri Lankan non-career diplomats