Prof. G.L. Peiris Trust for Legal Education and Research established

At a ceremony at Senate House, University of Colombo this week, the Professor G.L. Peiris Trust for Legal Education and Research was established in the presence of a distinguished gathering of senior academics, leaders of the legal profession and civil society.

The Trust Deed, drawn up by Paul Ratnayeke Associates, was signed by Professor Peiris as settlor, and by the University of Colombo Vice Chancellor Prof. Mahesh Indika Karunatilaka, Faculty of Law Dean Prof. Sampath Punchihewa, Sri Lanka Law College Principal Prasantha Lal de Alwis, PC, and Dr. Amanthi Bandusena, the daughter of Professor Peiris, who will be the Trustees.

The income of the Trust will consist of royalties due to the author from ten books on the laws and legal systems of Sri Lanka, written by Professor Peiris. This was supplemented by a contribution of one million rupees out of personal funds, which Professor Peiris handed over to the Vice Chancellor to start up the Trust Fund.

The Trustees, at their discretion, were empowered to allocate resources from year to year to the Faculty of Law and to the Sri Lanka Law College, depending on needs and priorities at a particular time. The envisaged activities will include research on legal topics, symposia on issues of current interest, memorial lectures, moot courts, debating competitions, and the like.

The Dean of the Faculty of Law announced the decision by the Faculty to institute the Professor G. L. Peiris Gold Medal for Criminal Law, in recognition of the unique service rendered to legal scholarship in the country by the former Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Law. Professor Punchihewa recalled that the grandfather of Professor Peiris, Gate Mudaliyar Edmund Peiris, had endowed a Prize for the best performance at the First Examination in Laws, a prize which had been won by his grandson.

The Vice Chancellor recalled with appreciation the leadership provided by Professor Peiris during an exceptionally turbulent period in the history of the university system in Sri Lanka. He said that he had been recruited to the academic staff during the tenure of office by Professor Peiris as Vice Chancellor.

The Principal of the Law College referred to the need for a collaborative relationship between the two institutions, the Faculty of Law and the Law College, and the initiatives taken in the recent past towards accomplishment of this objective. He also commented on pioneering legislation in a variety of fields, which Professor Peiris had introduced in Parliament during his tenure of several Ministries.

The guest speaker on the occasion, former Vice Chancellor and Emeritus Professor Savitri Goonesekera, spoke of the work which she and Professor Peiris had done together over a long period for the development of the university and the many challenges they faced. She regretted the adversarial political culture which resulted in the collapse of many productive measures, including the Constitution draft of 2000, with valuable input by the late Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam.

Professor Peiris, in his address, described the efforts which the university had consistently made to maintain the highest academic standards while increasing several-fold the intake of students from across the country. He made special mention of benefactors such as Sujata Jayawardena, who, while serving as chairperson of the Alumni Association, was remarkably successful in raising resources for the construction of a women’s hostel, a dire need of the university during the process of expansion. He also referred to his work in the Presidential Commission on Youth with other distinguished members like Prof. Lakshman Jayatilaka, Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, and Ralph Alles.

A large number of President’s Counsel, many of them students of Professor Peiris, professors and other academic staff of the Faculty, officials of the Law College, and representatives of Paul Ratnayeke Associates and Lake House Investments, the publishers of the author’s books, graced the occasion.