Tributes have been paid to former Judge, Magistrate and Supreme Court Registrar Ken Brown, who died recently at the age of 63. Dr. Brown, an Englishman, spent six years in Bermuda after being appointed as a Magistrate in April 1989.

From 1991 to 1995 he was Registrar of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal and occasionally acted as a Puisne Judge.

Paying tribute this week, Chief Justice Richard Ground said: "Ken was Registrar of the Supreme Court when I first came to Bermuda in 1992, and before that had been a Magistrate. He had the ideal temperament for both posts, and was greatly respected in the legal community.

"He was a very astute lawyer, but he also had the common touch and understood the problems that ordinary people had when dealing with the law and legal matters. Some of that would have come from his experience as Public Solicitor a sort of civil public defender in the Solomon Islands."

Before coming to Bermuda, Dr. Brown had worked as a solicitor in England and in private practice in Zambia. After returning to England for a couple of years, he was posted as Principal Magistrate in the Solomon Islands early in 1980.

He then became Registrar of the High Court there before being appointed the country's first Public Solicitor in March 1982, a position he held until August 1988 when he again returned to England. He came to Bermuda the following year, and left in 1995 for Australia, where he was engaged in postgraduate research for several years. He was awarded a doctorate by Charles Darwin University in October 2003 for his thesis on customary law and received law in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

Customary law is law derived from custom, and Dr. Brown wrote extensively on such issues.

He was a heavy smoker, and is understood to have died of emphysema in Darwin on July 20, having been ill for some time.

Mr. Justice Ground said: "Quite by chance, the day before I heard the news of Ken's death, I had been exchanging reminiscences about him with the former Chief Justice of the Solomons, and he spoke of Ken's legal skill and energy and the respect he enjoyed in that country.

"Given his sharp mind, it is not surprising that Ken went on to a successful academic career in Australia, and it is very sad that that has now been cut short."

Dr. Brown's close friend Marilynn O. Simmons worked alongside him when he was the chairman of Family Court in Bermuda and she was a juror there. They also played bridge together with the Bermuda Bridge Club. "During his tenure as chairman of the Family Court, he was outstanding in the way he displayed the utmost respect to persons who came before him.

"He was outstanding in his ability to be incisive and to pass appropriate judgement," she said.

Dr. Brown brought his young children Daniel and Caroline to Bermuda with him. He was divorced from their mother and raised them as a single father. "He was a very attentive and caring father," said Mrs. Simmons. "He was always with a smile, and was a delightful person."

Lawyer Delroy Duncan, who knew Dr. Brown as a colleague, said: "I knew Ken Brown as a bright and equally friendly man unafraid to let humour creep into proceedings he presided over in both the Magistrates and Supreme Courts.

"His easy manner made junior counsel comfortable when they appeared before him. "He made a notable contribution to the Bermuda judiciary during his tenure and I am sad to hear he has passed away."