T. Nadaraja

Nadaraja was born on 27 December 1927.^[1][2][3] He was the son of Murugesar Thambiah, a wealthy landowner, and Sivanandam, fourth daughter of Sir P. Arunachalam.^[1][2][3][4] He was educated at Royal College, Colombo where he won several prizes including the Shakespeare prize.^[1][2][3][5] After school he joined the University College, Colombo where he studied for one year before transferring to Trinity College, Cambridge to study law.^[1][2][3][5] In 1940 he gained First Class Honours in the law Tripos.^[1][2][3][5] He won several prizes at Trinity as well, including the Bond Prize for Roman Law, the Davies Prize for English Law and the Post Graduate Law Studentship.^[2][5] Whilst in the UK Nadaraja joined Lincoln's Inn from where he was awarded the First Class Certificate of Honour by the Council of Legal Education.^[2][3][5] He also won the Buchanan Prize at Lincoln's Inn.^[2][3][5]

He later obtained M.A and PhD degrees from the University of Cambridge.^[2][3][5]

Nadaraja married Sornam Ammai, daughter of Sir A. Mahadeva, in 1944.^[3][6] They had no children.^[3]

Nadaraja returned to Ceylon and joined the local bar as an advocate, working in the chambers of S. J. V. Chelvanayakam.^[3] In 1943, whilst still practising law, Nadaraja started lecturing at the Ceylon Law College.^[2][3][5] He joined the newly created Department of Law at the University of Ceylon in 1947, becoming a professor of law in 1951 following the death of Sir Francis Soertsz.^[2][3][4][5] He served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 1957 to 1960, succeeding Professor J. L. C. Rodrigo.^[2][3][5] In 1960 the Department of Law was upgraded to Faculty of Law and Nadaraja was appointed its first dean.^[2][3][5] He held the position until his retirement in 1982.^[3][5]

In the 1950s Nadaraja was a member of a three-man Royal Commission on the death penalty headed by Professor Needham.^[3] The commission's recommendations eventually led to the de facto abolition of the death penalty in Sri Lanka.^[3]

Nadaraja was president of the Sri Lanka branch of the Royal Asiatic Society and Classical Association.^[2][3] He was also a member of the Law Commission and the Council of Legal Education.^[3]

Nadaraja was awarded honorary LLD and DLitt degrees from the University of Colombo and the University of Jaffna respectively.^[2][5] The Bar Council of Sri Lanka honoured Nadaraja's achievements by awarding him Life Membership Honoris Causa.^[2] In January 2012 the University of Colombo's launched the Professor T. Nadaraja Memorial Orationin memory of Nadaraja.^[7]

Nadaraja was chief trustee of the Sithy Vinayagar Temple in Colombo from 1945 onwards.^[2] He was also a trustee of the Sri Ponnambalavanesvara and Arunachaleswara temples in Colombo.^[2][3] These temples had been built by his family.^[2]

Nadaraja served as chancellor of the University of Jaffna from 1984 until his death on 20 January 2004.^[2][4][5][8] His remains were cremated on 21 January 2004.^[9]

• Roman-Dutch Law of Fideicommissa^[2][5]
• Legal System of Ceylon in its Historical Setting^[2][5]
• The Cult of Siva with Special References to the Dances of Siva^[5]