Jamshedji Kanga-A Sesquicentennial Tribute

Sir Jamshedji Behramji Kanga was one of the most outstanding members of the Bombay Bar, who was universally loved and respected. With his tall frame-he was six feet four inches in height and stood erect even in his nineties- black coat and white priestly turban, he was a notable and distinguished figure who by his sheer presence reduced all around him to less than life size. Said Nani Palkhivala, his illustrious junior, “If a man were to go by chance into the court and hear Sir Jamshedji Kanga argue for a few moments he would say- this is an extraordinary legal mind.”

Kanga was born on 27 February, 1875. Nature had endowed him with many gifts-intelligence, industry, youth, quickness of grasp, phenomenal memory. He had a mind that cut its way as instantly and easily to the core of the problem as a hot knife through butter. He thought in a lightning flash which illumined the innermost recesses of the case. His capacity was such that before everything about a case was stated, he had already surveyed the whole scene and lighted the best paths. His memory was colossal and enabled him to recall any case on the instant. He had enough intellect to succeed without industry and enough industry to succeed without intellect. The combination made him unsurpassable.

Jamshedji Kanga was ordained a full fledged Parsi priest. He developed an extraordinary memory learning all the priestly lore. He started the practice of law at the age of 28 enrolling as an Advocate (O.S.) in 1903. He joined the chambers of Sir Basil Scott who was then the Advocate General and later became the Chief Justice. Kanga did not have much work in the early years of his practice and it is said that he spent his evenings reading all the opinions of the Privy Council reported in the Indian Appeals from its first volume and the judgements of the High Courts from the first volume of the Indian Law Report series, while during the day he would sit in court and by intelligently watching others perform imbibe the difficult art of how to argue and more importantly of how not to argue a case.

Law was the element of his life. He took the judgeship and advocate generalship in his stride. He practised law for about sixty five years. Kanga was a judge of the Bombay High Court for a couple of years in 1921-22. His tenure as a judge, brief though it was, was remarkable for the reason that three of his important judgements which were reversed in appeal were restored by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council stating that he had accurately laid down the law.

He was not swayed or attracted by the pomp and pageantry of office. He stepped down from the Bench to become the Advocate General of Bombay on the persuasion of Chief Justice Sir Norman Macleod. He was the first permanent Indian Advocate General, a position which he held with brilliance and distinction for over twelve years remaining in office till February 1936. He discharged his duties and carried out his functions with a sense of absolute fairness and steadfastness earning universal respect. One of his greatest joys on demitting the office was a telegraphic message from his great friend and contemporary Bhulabhai Desai: “Heartiest congratulations on your brilliant and distinguished tenure of office as Advocate General-Bhulabhai.” Jamshedji Kanga along with Chimanlal Setalvad, Bhulabhai Desai and Vicaji Taraporwala formed a quartet.

As Chagla said Kanga was loved and respected by all and was the greatest lawyer he had known in the High Court. He was both a first class lawyer and a first class advocate. Sir Jamshedji read fast and thought quickly. His conferences were brief and hardly took more than thirty minutes. His profound knowledge of the law and his proverbial memory ensured that he was never taken by surprise in the court. But all this was backed by his great power of concentrated work.

He was saturated with the law whose fervent devotee he was for over six decades attending his chamber even till a few months before his demise. Law was something sacred and he had deep reverence for it which was reflected in his respect for the Bench and his never misstating the law whatever the inducement. Even at 90, he said he was still learning the law. It was a moving sight to see the grand old man of 92 years standing up till Justice Potter Stewart (of the U.S. Supreme Court) left the common room, saying that was the respect due to a judge. What traditions! When he was nearly 90, Jamshedji was briefed by Kolah in some matter in the Gujarat High Court. During the lunch- break, the Chief Justice and all the judges, all the lawyers and leading media persons came to meet Kanga. He told the judges that they should have sent for him and not come to meet him. He excused himself from the media because talking to them would amount to advertising which is impermissible. That was the highest standard!

He had the remarkable qualities of detachment and fairness in dealing with everything including the cases. It is said that when he was preparing his arguments against the first Prohibition Act, one of his juniors said that there was no problem of drink. Sir Jamshedji replied: “You are wrong. There is a serious problem. Drunken men and even more drunken women are a horrible sight. You may, however, say that prohibition is not the solution.” Further, to him a case was a living thing which engaged all his faculties, he was intensely in it. And sometimes as Cardozo said, like Jacob he had to wrestle with the angel through the night. However the following morning when the argument came it was masterly and vivid, his simple and orderly narrative was charming, rendering it irresistible to the Court.

His presentation of a case was clear and simple and the argument convincing. His fairness and integrity were such that he would never make a wrong legal proposition and he would also cite cases against himself. He would tell judges that if they wanted to decide against him they should rest their judgement on the ground that he was suggesting. He said that advocates cannot run away from difficulties; the only ways of dealing with cases are: you can distinguish the case or you can tell the judge that you are going further, but if it is the judgement of a final court, there is nothing more to be done.

His advocacy was very persuasive and forceful. He would argue flinging his hands in all directions and it was a stock joke that he made small points with large gestures. But in cases that were more evenly balanced, Kanga with his perseverance, his knowledge of law, his understanding of human as well as of judicial nature might almost always be expected to tilt the balance in favour of his client. His marshalling of facts and law was so remarkable that he would destroy his opponent's case without being rude. But despite all the success he achieved and the obvious distinction he earned he remained one of the humblest of persons. He was simplicity itself.

Kanga, the man was even greater. He fully answered Cardinal Newman's definition of a gentleman. He was unfailingly deferential to court, faultlessly polite to opponents and colleagues, scrupulously fair to witnesses and litigants and courteous to all who came in touch with him. He personified grace and goodness. He trained in his lifetime generations of lawyers in that high tradition. Unveiling his portrait in the High Court Library on the completion of Sir Jamshedji's sixty years at the Bar, Chief Justice Chagla described him as the “uncut diamond of the Bar,'' because he was so child like.

Fali Nariman says that there was some intense bond between Chagla and Kanga which they came to know only in later years. It appears that there was a litigation in which Chagla's father was involved and required the services of a counsel. Chagla, then a struggling and impecunious junior, reading in the chambers of Jinnah then at the top of his practice, approached his senior. Jinnah looked at the brief and curtly said that he never appeared free of charge. Chagla couldn't afford even the modest fees of those days and was crestfallen. He then approached Kanga who was the Advocate General and whom he did not know. Kind and generous as ever Sir Jamshedji took the brief and appeared for the young lawyer's father without charging any fee. Chagla always remembered and cherished this gesture of Kanga.

Chagla wrote of what used to be called Sir Jamshedji Kanga's durbar at the Bar Gymkhana on Sunday mornings. Sir Jamshedji would come at about 10 and stay on till about noon treating everyone to beer. The durbar would include besides lawyers, other friends of his from different walks of life like Jehangir Bhabha, the father of the distinguished scientist Dr. Homi Bhabha, Sir Vittal Chandrawarkar who was Vice Chancellor of the Bombay University for a long time, and the talk and discussion would cover politics, public affairs, industry, finance, share market, the Bar and a host of other things.

There is an interesting anecdote of Kanga hosting a dinner for Chief Justice Coutts-Trotter of the Madras High Court at the Willingdon Sports Club in Bombay. In those days Scotch Whiskey came in bottles with cork tops. Sir Murray was a connoisseur of good liquor. When the first bottle of the premium brand Johnny Walker Black Label was opened and the contents poured in glasses, Coutts-Trotter took his first sip and rejected it saying 'cork'. Another bottle was opened and the liquor poured into fresh glasses and the Chief Justice took a sip and again denounced it. This was repeated with a third bottle. Only the contents of the fourth bottle were to the satisfaction of Sir Murray who downed several pegs of whiskey and it proved to be a very costly dinner.

H.M. Seervai, one of Kanga's very distinguished juniors recalled that Kanga's generosity to the juniors was proverbial. If there was any credit to be gained or advantage to be secured he stepped back and let the juniors have the credit. If the matter threatened to go out of hand and discredit was to be obtained he stepped in front and took the blame and burden on himself. He acknowledged both to the Solicitor and to the Court the debt he owed to his juniors.

Kanga had a large opinion practice. His juniors especially Seervai and later Palkhivala worked on the opinions. Seervai wrote out the opinions leaving enough space for making corrections. Kanga would send the manuscript with his corrections. It was thus known who was writing the opinions. He also made it known to the solicitors during conference. He would let the junior defend his opinion if it was unpalatable to the solicitor or client and then he would surge in with his massive support.

When Palkhivala was still a young junior he wrote an opinion for Kanga in a particular case and submitted it for approval. Kanga went through it thoroughly and made an alteration only on one point. The solicitor was quite pleased on going through the opinion but expressed his doubt only on one issue-the one on which Kanga had made the alteration. Kanga was magnanimous to tell the solicitor that the entire opinion had been prepared by Palkhivala and only that alteration had been made by him. Similarly very graciously he agreed to be the co-author (with Palkhivala) of The Law and Practice of Income Tax. All this reveals his graciousness and magnanimity. Dismissing a suit for infringement of copyright filed by Sampath Iyengar against Kanga and Palkhivala, Justice Panchapakesa Ayyar of the Madras High Court observed that Sir Jamshedji was in charge of Income-Tax practice from almost the inception of the Income-Tax Act and argued 90 percent of the Income-Tax cases in the Bombay Province which is well known as the leading province for Income-Tax assessment.

Recalling what he treasured most about his recollections of Kanga, Nani Palkhivala said: “The first thing that struck me about Sir Jamshedji when I entered his chambers was the great humility of the man. He was totally devoid of any sense of self importance or egoism though he was at the top of the ladder. I found him most considerate, most helpful and a man who was genuinely happy when he found a junior getting on in life, which is a very rare quality in a professional man.”

His chamber was a great nursery and training ground for lawyers. Kanga's chamber was on the ground floor of the High Court building on the Bombay University side. It measured about 30ft x15ft and had a large veranda at one end. The names of those who occupied it read like a roll call of honour. One of Kanga's very early juniors was Sir H.J. Kania, the first Chief Justice of India, whom Kanga affectionately remembered as “a very nice and industrious boy who read all my briefs.” Justice S. R. Tendolkar was another junior. In about 1950 there were seven tables. Sir Jamshedji's at the centre. There were four large tables on one side. Murzban Mistree had a table close to that of Kanga, next sat Rustom Kolah, who was the first to be offered Supreme Court judgeship directly from the Bar and then Homi Seervai who too was offered direct elevation to the Supreme Court. Sitting opposite at three small tables were Jal Vimadlal, Nani Palkhivala, again a candidate for direct appointment from the Bar to the Supreme Court and Khurshedji Bhabha, their tables almost stuck into the wall on the other side, each with only one extra chair at the side for the solicitor or the client. It was a crowded chamber. The juniors- and there were many including such future stars as Fali Nariman and Soli Sorabjee- just fluttered around. It appears that Justice Coyajee once remarked that he was surprised how nobody had tripped and broken a leg in Kanga's chamber. It was a busy chamber. The hustle and bustle there trained one to think and work under the most noisy and discomfortable conditions.

The atmosphere there is best described by Seervai as lively and extraordinary. If one did not want to work or wanted to chat or gossip, he was free to do so. But if you were willing to work, Kanga was extremely generous. The waiting period at the Bar for the juniors would have been unendurable but for his nature radiating vitality and charm. He delighted in the success of his juniors, though he modestly put it down to his chamber being a lucky one. But for his juniors who knew better he was both an inspiration and an example.

He set for himself exacting standards and lived by them. He exemplified by his life and work the best traditions of the Bar. In his chamber there was always sunshine which played round his heart and everyone loved to bask in it. Hero of many legal battles and causes celebres he was a noble warrior.

Later Kanga had to vacate this chamber and move to another. By about 1957 the occupants of all the chambers were asked to leave because with the increase in work there was need for more court rooms. Kanga, with some persuasion, led a delegation to Chief Justice Chagla with a request for some alternative accommodation. While Chagla was courteous as always, he offered them no hope. Sir Jamshedji told him in that case he would have to sit at home. On the Chief Justice's enquiry he replied, 'Well either I sit in the High Court building or I retire.' Chagla did not like the idea of Kanga sitting at home. An additional floor was constructed in the building next to the High Court with a connecting link. The largest single chamber on that floor, Chamber Number 1 was allotted to Kanga. This was more spacious and he shifted in 1959. Seervai and Palkhivala had left Kanga's chamber by then and had their own chambers. Vimadalal had become a judge. Murzban Mistree, Rustom Kolah and Khurshedji Bhabha continued there and each of them had their own band of juniors. Mistree's juniors included Sam Bharucha, later CJI and Sam Variava, later a judge of the Supreme Court. Soli Dastur, a most illustrious tax lawyer was among Kolah's juniors. Among Bhabha's juniors were Fali Nariman and Soli Sorabjee and Avinash Rana and later Iqbal Chagla. Chagla's juniors included Janak Dwarakdas and Darius Khambatta, among others. Such was the constellation that adorned Chamber No.1.

The incomparable C.K.Daphtary is reported to have said that only once did feel a little nervous in court: That was when Kanga had gone to the Supreme Court for a case, Daphtary was the Solicitor General and Kanga insisted that as Solicitor General, Daphtary should lead and argue the case and Kanga would sit by his side. To have Kanga sit beside you when you argued, remarked Daphtary, made you feel uneasy.

After he retired from active practice, he attended the chamber and would be there the whole day. I have heard it from Fali Nariman that Kanga would even collect the mail for the juniors and leave it on their tables and remember to tell them about it in the evenings. Junior members of the Bar would chat with him and hear tales of the Bombay Bar. If there was nothing to be done he would be reciting the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi consisting of a lakh of lines which he is said to have known by rote.

His legendary memory did not fail him to the end. It is said that towards the end of his life when his great-niece asked him for a Shakespearian quote for her elocution competition he recited a whole list of quotations relevant to the topic. So also Palkhivala when he visited Kanga during his last illness and asked if he could recall a particular legal proposition, Sir Jamshedji responded with the name, citation and column.

Almost every evening at about 6.30 after the conferences, Kanga would regale the juniors with stories of the past. He remembered his cases like recalling a film that has been seen. It all came to life then- the facts, the decision, the participants and the events.

There is an interesting anecdote narrated by Kanga (which was related to him by Chagla and then by Kanga to his juniors). Kanga was once arguing an appeal before Chief Justice Beaumont and Justice Chagla. It was a potato merchant's appeal in a commercial cause between traders. During the hearing Chagla enquired of the Chief Justice as to who was the agitated person behind Kanga and Beaumont replied that it was Kanga's client. Chagla said that the client had the audacity to go to Chagla's house the previous evening to deliver a bag of potatoes and that he had asked him to leave instantly with the gift. Beaumont assured Chagla that they were excellent potatoes. Seeing the look of horror on Chagla's face, the Chief Justice asked whether Chagla really thought that a bag of potatoes was going to make any difference as to how they decided the case. The merchant lost his appeal and a bag of potatoes as well.

Another favourite story that he would narrate is about Lord Dunedin a senior Law Lord. Once when both of them were travelling by boat, Dunedin told Kanga that when he quite often dozed off listening to the boring arguments of counsel, the complaint of his colleagues on the Bench was “Not only does our good Lord Dunedin fall asleep, but when sleeping he snores- and so disturbs the sleep of the other Law Lords.”

The facts of the many cases were carefully compartmentalised and could be recalled instantaneously with ease and without confusion. He would remember not only an authority but also the volume and page of the law report with the names of the parties. S.P.Bharucha, former Chief Justice of India who read in Kanga's chambers recalls that at a conference with Jamshedji Kanga and Murzban Mistree, Bharucha was called in and asked to look up the law on a particular point and Kanga told him that he would find it on a left hand page in Pollock and Mulla in a case in which the Bank of Japan was a party. Bharucha says that he found the proposition as Kanga had said on a left hand page of Pollock and Mulla, except that it was the case of the Bank of Tokyo.

Andhyarujina remembers one of Kanga's last appearances in Court. He was about 90 then. Sir Jamshedji was requested to give support by his presence in a matrimonial custody case on behalf of the mother who was represented by R.J.Joshi who was pitted against advocates like Sir N.P.Engineer, R.J.Kolah and Nani Palkhivala for the father. It appears that R.J.Joshi arguing for the mother was apparently not faring very well and was facing a lot of opposition from his formidable opponents. Kanga suddenly got up took over the argument and forcefully argued for the mother, occasionally raising his hands in the air as was his wont. In one such gesture he knocked off Joshi's spectacles.

F.S. Nariman in his delightful autobiography recalls what he calls the enviable and cherished distinction of his appearing in court with Kanga. It was in the late 1960s when Kanga was in his nineties, and it was his last appearance in court. One of the parties who was a very long standing client of Kanga in spite of being told that Kanga no longer appeared in court insisted that he should appear in the case because it would bring him luck. The matter was before Justice Tarkunde. It was argued for the plaintiff by Nariman with Sir Jamshedji sitting next to him. It was a suit for specific performance of a contract for purchase of land which the plaintiff won with the luck of Sir Jamshedji. It would appear that every evening before the case reached hearing, Kanga would remind Nariman and be assured of his presence in court because by that time he could hardly read. Nariman says that after the arguments Kanga was like a jubilant school boy remembering his earlier days in court. And Nariman regards that appearance as his own stellar performance particularly because Sir Jamshedji appeared with Fali Nariman and not Nariman with Kanga.

An unexpected visitor one evening was President Rajendra Prasad. He was visiting Bombay and was residing in Raj Bhavan, the hind gate of which stood across Jamshedji's home. Dr Prasad who was himself an eminent lawyer dropped in unannounced. When Jamshedji objected to the President calling on him, Rajen Babu clarified that it was not the President but a lawyer calling on a very eminent lawyer to pay respects to him.

Rohinton Nariman recalls that a few months before Kanga's demise, the father (Fali Nariman) had taken the then 12 year old Rohinton to see Kanga at his Malabar Hill residence. Kanga was keeping indifferent health and was in his own world reclining on his bed reciting poetry. He did not notice Nariman's presence even when his niece mentioned to him. But the moment Fali said that his son had been initiated to become a Parsi priest (Navar), Sir Jamshedji stirred up and sat erect, called the young Rohinton and enquired what he had studied and how much he had committed to memory. Rohinton told him what he had studied and Kanga said that it was thirteen times more than what he had studied and so Rohinton should do thirteen times better.

It is said that Kanga always wore the Parsi priestly turban as his father wished. He was deeply devoted to his mother and during the last years of her life, gave up his evenings at the Club so as to give her company at dinner. He was as much at home in literature as in law and was fond of reciting stanzas from poetry. And Seervai says (Obituary Reference on 24-3-1969) that a few words from Milton's Paradise Lost aptly describe his great career.

……… … unmoved,

Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,

His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal,

Nor number, nor example with him wrought

To swerve from truth or change his constant mind.

Kanga answered the final summons of his Maker on March 23, 1969 at the ripe age of 94 when his long and distinguished earthly sojourn came to an end. Lawyers from all sides of the High Court accompanied his body in the funeral procession by road from his residence at Walkeshwar to Doongerwadi. The High Court remained closed for a day out of respect for the outstanding lawyer and gentleman. Only once earlier, when Inverarity died in 1923 was the High Court closed for a day to mourn his demise. Sir Jamshedji was a prince among men and a doyen at the Bar. His juniors revered him, his colleagues and friends esteemed him, the Bench respected him. He was adored by one and all.

In the Full Court reference when the great Inverarity passed away in 1923, Sir Jamshedji as Advocate General recited the lines that Walter Scott wrote on the death of William Pitt. And Seervai as Advocate General recited the same lines in the obituary reference to Kanga:

Now is the stately column broke, / The beacon-light is quench'd in smoke, /

The trumpet's silver sound is still, / The warder silent on the hill!

How truly these words applied to him.

Sir Jamshedji belonged to a class by himself. It is said when they make great men, they break the mould. It is appropriate that we remember and light his memory on this occasion. It is for us to imbibe lessons from his life and work. He has lessons to teach us, if we care to stop and learn, lessons quite at variance with most that we practise and much that we profess. His life is an inspiration, his memory a benediction.

Author is a Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India. Views Are Personal.