PUTRAJAYA: The lives and legacies of four prominent judges have been celebrated in heartfelt speeches by families, legal figures and the Chief Justice in reference proceedings at the Federal Court.
The four judicial luminaries are former chief justices Tun Mohd Eusoff Chin, 91, Tun Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah, 86, Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad, 84, and former chief judge of Malaya Tan Sri Siti Norma Yaakob, 86.
Three of them died in 2026 while Mohamed Dzaiddin died in 2024.
In his speech, Chief Justice Tun Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh made reference to Francis Bacon's essay, "Of Judicature", who wrote that the office of judges has reference to four – to the parties that sue, to the advocates that plead, to the clerks and ministers of justice beneath them and to the sovereign or the state above them.
"Four duties, owed to the four constituencies a judge serves. I have come to think that each of the four whom we honour this morning received an institution shaped by the other, strengthened it in his or her own way and handed the institution on to the next.
"Hence, what we have today is not the achievement of any single chief justice. It is compound interest," he said.
The top judge made a recollection of the four judges, sharing some personal experiences he had with them, their work ethics and their towering achievements in the judiciary.
Mohd Eusoff, who was a CJ for six years and 86 days, held the longest tenure of a CJ in the land.
According to Wan Ahmad Farid, Mohd Eusoff introduced a clocking-in system for judges, which he was told treated judges like children.
"But he was not discouraged. When punctuality outside Kuala Lumpur proved uneven, he phoned judges' quarters early in the morning and told whoever answered that the judge's good friend, Eusoff Chin, was on the line.
"Punctuality, I am told, improved remarkably. No more golfing at 2pm on a working day," Wan Ahmad Farid said.
The judiciary also held its first judges' conference outside of Kuala Lumpur in Kuala Terengganu in 1998 under Mohd Eusoff's leadership, which Wan Ahmad Farid, who was a lawyer then, recalled helping connect Mohd Eusoff's office with the Terengganu Mentri Besar's office.
Meanwhile, Mohd Eusoff's successor Mohamed Dzaiddin served for barely two years and three months, but Wan Ahmad Farid said the short tenure was never confused with a small duty.
Mohamed Dzaiddin began his working experience as a journalist with the Malay Mail, served as a police inspector and later read law and invited to the Bench.
"Perhaps that breadth of experience explains his gift. He understood justice not only as judges see it but also through the eyes of the public.
"In my humble view, Tun Dzaiddin taught the judiciary to listen again," Wan Ahmad Farid said.
The third honoree, Abdul Hamid, helmed the judiciary for even shorter time than Mohamed Dzaiddin with less than a year under his belt but his work endured far beyond his tenure.
There were 567 judgments, eight books including "Hakim Bukan Parlimen" (Judges are not Parliament) and more than 500 speeches and working papers.
"His work on the relationship between Syariah and civil jurisdictions, collected in 'Konflik dan Pengharmonian', continues to be a guide for judges when called upon to decide where one jurisdiction ends and the other begins.
"This ladies and gentleman, is no small inheritance," Wan Ahmad Farid added.
Wan Ahmad Farid also recalled seeing Abdul Hamid, who sat in his capacity as then-chief justice, as Wan Ahmad Farid was sworn in as a deputy minister in 2008.
He said he once asked the then-prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, whom he served under, why was Abdul Hamid appointed as the CJ.
"The answer came back short and blunt: 'Young man, I know him and he's a man of integrity.'
"I also knew that he was a fair judge, not merely by reputation, but because I had appeared before him as counsel," Wan Ahmad Farid shared.
Meanwhile, Siti Norma's "list of firsts" deserved to be remembered, Wan Ahmad Farid said.
She was the first female Malay barrister to be called at Gray's Inn in 1962; the first woman to hold an executive post in the Judicial and Legal Service, in 1963, the first female President of the Sessions Court in 1967 and later in 1980, she was the first female chief registrar of the Federal Court.
Siti Norma went on to become the first woman appointed to the High Court in 1983, the first to sit on the newly established Court of Appeal in 1994 and the first to be elevated to the Federal Court in 2001.
On Feb 8, 2005, she became the first woman to be Chief Judge of Malaya.
"They have done their part. It now falls to us to do ours for those who come after. To their families, we offer more than formal condolences.
"The nation knew them by their offices, you knew the people behind the titles. Public service makes demands not only of the officeholder but also of those who wait at home.
"For that sacrifice, the Malaysian judiciary owes you its gratitude and place on record our profound appreciation for the service of these four distinguished jurists," Wan Ahmad Farid added.
Wan Ahmad Farid was joined at the Bench with Court of Appeal president Datuk Seri Abu Bakar Jais, Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Seri Hashim Hamzah and Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Datuk Azizah Nawawi.
Also in attendance at the reference proceedings were Attorney General Tan Sri Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar, Bar Council vice-president Murshidah Mustafa, former Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria and families of the late judges.
