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Arthur Raymond Chung - Guyana’s first president passes on

Arthur Chung attended Windsor Forest and Blankenburg Primary Schools before he went to Mr J. I. Ramphal’s (the Attorney General’s father) Modern High School. In 1938, Mr Chung graduated from Modern High School and joined the staff of the Lands and Mines Department as an apprentice surveyor.

In 1940 he qualified as Sworn Land Surveyor, after which he joined the staff of the Public Works Department where he stayed for six months. He was then recalled by the Lands and Mines Department to work as an Assistant Hydrographic surveyor with the Demerara River Navigation Development Project which was at the time involved in dredging the Demerara River. In May, 1945, he left British Guiana after the Second World War to enter the Middle Temple of London.

In 1947 he qualified as a barrister He then worked as Assistant Legal examiner with the British Civil Service, later joining the chambers of British lawyer Maurice Shear. In October, 1948 Arthur Chung returned to British Guiana when he joined the local bar and practised as a lawyer.

In 1953 Arthur Chung he was appointed acting magistrate to serve in the West Demerara and Essequibo Judicial Districts. In 1954 his appointment was confirmed and he now had to serve in the Georgetown and Berbice Judicial districts. In 1954 Mr Chung got married to Miss Doreen Pamela Auan also from Windsor Forest. In 1961, Mr Chung left the Magistrate’s Court and went to work as Registrar at the Supreme Court. In 1962 Arthur Chung was called to act as a judge in the Supreme Court.

In 1963 Arthur Chung position as a jugde was confirmed. He once created history when he broke a 78-year-old practice by ruling that the Director of Public Prosecutions had no jurisdiction to compel a magistrate to convict a person.

He was also involved in a case when he ruled in favour of the Attorney General against Mrs Cecile Nobrega, but the Full Court of Appeal reversed the decision when it was taken there by Mrs Nobrega. The Attorney General finally took the case to the Privy Council which upheld Mr Chung’s original decision.
His last case was the Rupununi murder trial which arose from the attempted secession in January, 1969. In this case, three of the accused persons were ordered to stand trial for murder, while seven others were set free.

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