Justice Francis MacGregor sends condolences on the passing of Jacques Hodoul |08 May 2021

A souvenir photo of the Constitutional Commission of 1993: Mr MacGregor and Mr Hodoul are respectively 1st and 4th from right, standing (front row)

Former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Francis MacGregor, and his family have sent deepest condolences and sympathy to Marook Pardiwalla and Jean-Jaques Hodoul on the recent passing of Justice Jacques Hodoul.

Noting that they were saddened to hear the news recently, Justice MacGregor hereby presents his memoirs of Mr Hodoul.

“We met at the Seychelles College in 1968 when he was a teacher and I was an ‘A’ Level student in Form VI.

“Then after we met at The Inns of Court School of Law at Middle Temple London in 1970

“Together with the likes of Paul, his brother, Pesi Pardiwalla who later became his brother in law and Attorney General of Seychelles. Also in his circle was Bernard Rassool who also became Attorney General of Seychelles, John Renaud later to become PS in the Labour Ministry, later Chairman of the People’s Assembly and a well-known practicing attorney. Also in the group was Bernard Petit who later became a well-known building contractor.

“After Law School, in 1973/1974 both Justice Hodoul and I went into private practice as lawyers. Later Mr Hodoul became a Cabinet Minister and myself Chairman of the People’s Assembly and later Speaker of the National Assembly. We also both participated in the Constitutional Commission of 1993, together with Mathilda Twomey who later became Justice of Appeal and Chief Justice of Seychelles. Also in the picture is Bernardin Renaud who was then Chairperson of the Commission and later became Ombudsman, Judge of the Supreme Court and Justice of the Court of Appeal.

“After that, development saw Hodoul becoming Justice of Appeal (2005) and myself as President of the Court of Appeal in 2007.

“Our last work together was at the Court of Appeal where I discovered in him a man who loved his job, always aiming for fairness and principles of law. It was almost natural in him. Even when sometimes we differed, we understood and respected each other’s opinion

“He will be remembered for a landmark judgement in a defamation case where prior to his judgement, the practice then was when utterances were made in Creole, you had to prove the translation in English (Gappy v/s Barallon). SCA 19/2007. The principle obtained then as Creole is one of our national languages as per the constitution, why should a defamation be translated into English?

“He later resigned as Judge of the Court of Appeal due to ill health. I would almost say reluctantly but he had to do justice to his own health and how that would affect those expecting justice applicable from a health limited availability.

“The memorial photo of the Constitutional Commission of 1993 – in one photo – shows the leading lights and pioneers of the then Seychelles who also included certain leading personalities not in the photo like Dr Maxime Ferrari, Bishop French Chang-Him and well known lawyer Bernard Georges.

“May his soul rest in eternal peace as we appreciate his contribution to Seychelles in different forms – as a teacher, lawyer, minister, and judge.”

Francis MacGregor

Former President of the Court of Appeal