Denys Roberts

The Honourable Dato Seri Paduka[1] Sir Denys Roberts KBE SPMB QC
20th Chief Justice of Hong Kong
In office 1979–1988
Preceded by	Geoffrey Briggs
Succeeded by	Ti-liang Yang
25th Chief Secretary of Hong Kong (Colonial Secretary 1973–76)
In office 30 September 1973 – 2 October 1978
Governor	Murray MacLehose
Preceded by	Hugh Norman-Walker
Succeeded by	Jack Cater
18th Attorney General of Hong Kong
In office 3 September 1966 – 29 September 1973
Preceded by	Maurice Heenan
Succeeded by	John William Dixon Hobley
2nd Chief Justice of Brunei
In office 1979–2001
Nominated by	Hassanal Bolkiah
Preceded by	Geoffrey Briggs
Succeeded by	Mohammed Saied
Personal details
Born	(1923-01-19)19 January 1923 London, United Kingdom
Died	20 May 2013(2013-05-20) (aged 90) Norfolk, United Kingdom
Spouses	Brenda Marsh ​ ​ (m. 1949; div. 1973)​ Anna Fiona Dollar Alexander ​ ​ (m. 1985)​
Children	3
Alma mater	Wadham College, Oxford (MA; BCL)
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	British Army
Years of service	1943–1946
Rank	Captain
Unit	Royal Artillery
Battles/wars	World War II

Sir Denys Tudor Emil Roberts KBE SPMB QC (Traditional Chinese: 羅弼時爵士; 19 January 1923 – 20 May 2013) was a British colonial official and judge. Joining the colonial civil service as a Crown Counsel in Nyasaland (now Malawi) 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/Chief Secretary in 1973 and Chief Justice 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.^[2][3]

Roberts was the last non-Chinese person 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.