Denys Roberts

Denys Roberts

Dato Seri Paduka Sir Denys Tudor Emil Roberts, KBE, SPMB, QC (Traditional Chinese: 羅弼時爵士, born 19 January 1923) is a British former colonial official and judge. Joining the colonial civil service as a Crown Counsel in Nyasaland in 1953, he became Attorney-General of Gibraltar in 1960. In 1962, he was posted to Hong Kong as Solicitor-General, and was successively promoted to Attorney-General in 1966, Colonial Secretary in 1973 and Chief Secretary in 1979. He was the first and only Attorney-General to become both Colonial Secretary (and Chief Secretary) in Hong Kong. Never having been a judge before, he was appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1979 and was the first and only Colonial Secretary (and Chief Secretary) of Hong Kong to receive such appointment.

Roberts was the last non-Chinese to hold the post of Chief Justice of Hong Kong. After retiring in 1988, he had served as President of the Court of Appeal of Bermuda, Chief Justice and President of Court of Appeal of Brunei Darussalam before finally retiring from the judicial service in 2003. He has written several books on colony and law and is a keen cricketer.