Terengganu Court History
FIRST COURT IN TERENGGANU STATE
Before 1920: Kuala Terengganu Court Management had existed in the grounds of Istana Maziah.
OFFICE ROAD COURT
Late 20's: A wooden building was built to be used as a Court building on Jalan Pejabat, near the current Wisma Darul Iman Building. This building has 2 courtrooms and was used until 1965.
Year 1967: The wooden building was demolished.
SULTAN ISMAIL ROAD COURT
Year 1965- A new Court was built on Jalan Sultan Ismail. This two-storey stone building contains a High Court courtroom and a courtroom for the Court of Session and Magistrate. One room on the first floor is used by the Public Trust Department. This court has a Sessions Court President, a Magistrate and a Lower Court Registrar. The President of the Sessions Court is also required to perform the duties of Senior Assistant Registrar of the High Court. High Court cases are handled by High Court Circuit Judges who come from Kota Bharu and Kuala Lumpur. Among the Circuit Judges who have served in the Kuala Terengganu High Court from the forties to 1983 are:
|
Yang Arif Hakim C.J.S. Smith |
| Hakim F.A. Briggs |
| Hakim A.W. Belamy |
| Hakim M.G. Neal |
| Hakim T.R. Hepworth |
| Hakim Datuk Mahmud bin Hasim |
| Hakim Dato’ Syed Othman bin Ali |
| Hakim Dato’ Ibrahim b. Abdul Manan |
| Hakim Ab. Razak bin Datuk Abu Samah |
| Hakim Tan Sri Dato’ Haji Mohd Zahir bin Haji Ismail |
| Y.A.A. Hakim Tun Dato’ Haji Mohamad Salleh bin Abas (ketika itu) |
| Y.A.A. Hakim Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Haji Mohd Eusoff bin Chin (ketika itu) |
and more.
Early 40's: This period also showed a lack of lawyers in the state of Terengganu. Therefore, there appeared some petition writers who did not have a law degree known as "Pleaders" to handle cases in the Kuala Terengganu Court. An enactment which is the Pleader and Writer Enactment 1983 was issued to allow them to practice law in this state. This practice, which is only found in the State of Terengganu, continued until the early eighties, where it simply died out. This may be due to the increase in the number of lawyers in this state which makes pleader services no longer needed. Among the licensed pleaders are:
| Haji Che Noh (tarikh kematian tidak pasti) |
| Haji Embong hin Haji Idris (tarikh kematian tidak pasti) |
| Pak Ishak bin Mohd Arif (meninggal pada tahun 60-an) |
| Maiden bin Mohamed Ibrahim (meninggal pada tahun 60-an) |
| Haji Omar bin Haji Arshad (meninggal pada tahun 80-an) |
Early 80's: The Court building has suffered severe cracks and efforts to repair it have been carried out.
Year 1983: The Jalan Sultan Ismail Court building was declared unsafe for use. Therefore, the Kuala Terengganu Court building has moved once again to a temporary wooden building located on Jalan Sultan Omar. This two-storey 'U'-shaped building has a carriage pattern and was built prefabricated at a cost of RM1.4 million.
Year 1984: For the first time a permanent High Court Judge was stationed at the Kuala Terengganu High Court. The judge was Yang Arif Dato' Haji Wan Mohamed bin Haji Wan Mustafa and his placement at that time was very coincidental to resolve the increasing number of High Court cases.
This Temporary Court building was initially expected to be used for 5 or 6 years only, but it has been used for 12 years due to the delay in completing the permanent New Court.
August 1995: The transfer to the New Court Building began in stages with the aim of not disturbing the cases that had been set for trial.
September 1995 to date: All Court functions and case hearings have been conducted in the New Court Building.
(Rujukan:Buku Cenderamata “Istiadat Perasmian Bangunan Baru Mahkamah Kuala Terengganu Darul Iman” – Pada Hari Sabtu, 15 Mac, 1997 bersamaan 6 Zulkaedah 1417)