Chief Justice of South Africa

The Chief Justice of South Africa is the chief judge in South Africa, who exercises final authority over the functioning and management of all the courts. The position of Chief Justice was created upon the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, with the Chief Justice of the Cape Colony Sir Henry de Villiers being appointed the first Chief Justice of the newly created Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa. The position of Chief Justice as it stands today was created by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Amendment Act of 2001 as an amalgamation of two previous high-ranking judicial positions of "Chief Justice" and "President of the Constitutional Court". The Chief Justice therefore now presides over the Constitutional Court. The position of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa, the successor court to the Appellate Division, was, as a consequence, renamed, "President of the Supreme Court of Appeal."