Senior Counsel Peter Britton who was hailed as being among the best criminal law minds in the country has died. He passed away yesterday after ailing for a brief period. He was said to have been in his seventies.

Professor Britton served the legal profession in excess of 45 years and was known for his

brilliance in academics and for a celebrated legal career. At the time of his death, he was still serving in the Law Department of the University of Guyana, and news of his passing came as students at the campus were set to write a criminal law examination.

Acting Chancellor of the Judiciary Carl Singh said yesterday that the professional standards which Britton observed should be emulated by those who hope to achieve the heights he did. He said Britton was a very able lawyer “who conducted himself with dignity and propriety, qualities we find so sadly lacking in many who had been admitted to practice law at the bar in Guyana”.

Referring to the news of Britton’s death as sad, Justice Singh said that it came as “a real shock”. He also noted that Britton’s loss is a significant one to the profession. “On behalf of the judiciary, on behalf of myself, I offer heartfelt sympathy to his sorrowing relatives,” he added.

Retired judge Donald Trotman called Britton one of the best criminal lawyers in the country. He said Britton had made “hallmark breakthroughs” in the criminal law in many cases during his practice. Trotman suggested that a number of the reported cases in which Britton featured as counsel be compiled “…Whether he has lost or won them [cases], but he has won a good many, they should be put together and be used by students and or as guidance for young lawyers, perhaps for judges too,” he added.

Trotman said Britton was his colleague in practice and had also appeared before him while he was on the bench. He called for a Full Court sitting to be held in the lawyer’s memory saying “he deserves no less”.

He praised Britton for his academic skills saying, “It is someone like Peter who should have been sitting in the High Court and subsequently the Court of Appeal in this country,” and he noted that Britton’s service to the university had compensated in some measure for “this deficiency.

“We will miss him, both as a lawyer and as a friend and also as a personality. He was a personality in the profession, something exuded from him that made you notice him, particularly when you conversed with him.” He said the profession has lost a valuable member.

It was Britton’s artistry and experience in the profession which attorney-at-law Stephen Fraser recalled yesterday. He told Stabroek News that Britton was his mentor who had taught him a great deal. “I benefited from his expertise, outside of his brilliance, he was a great story-teller,” Fraser added. The attorney said too that Britton had one of the sharpest intellects of anyone he had met and he declared that the loss is tremendous to the profession.

President of the Guyana Bar Association Teni Housty referred to Britton’s loss as the passing of a stalwart in the profession.

He said Britton has left an indelible mark in the profession through his tutorship at the university. He recalled an impacting statement which Britton often made to new law students, “He would say that the most important thing in the law is not necessarily knowing it, but knowing where to find it”.

He said that Britton’s was a life well served, noting that the professor had a distinguished career which spanned several decades. Housty said too that Guyana and the wider Caribbean region have lost a great legal mind.

He also expressed how the news impacted personally. “It is such a loss because of who Professor Britton was and what he meant to this profession, I offer my condolences to his family, friends and his students”.

Peter Britton was admitted to the local bar on January 25, 1967. He served as a criminal lawyer and quickly built a reputation as one of the best in the field.

He was also selected to chair numerous legal committees during his career in addition to his service at the university.