Peter Schutz (judge)

W. Peter Schutz (1932–2004) was a South African judge who served in the Supreme Court of Appeal between 1995 and 2004. Formerly a practising advocate, he joined the judiciary in 1991 as a judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division.

The Honourable Peter Schutz
Personal details
Born	1932 (1932) Carnarvon, Cape Province Union of South Africa
Died	August 2004 (2004-09) (age 71) Johannesburg, Gauteng Republic of South Africa

Life and career

Schutz was born in 1932 in Carnarvon in the Northern Cape (then the Cape Province).^[1] He joined the bar in February 1956 and took silk in June 1976.^[1] He took office as a judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa on 1 January 1991, and he was elevated to the Appellate Division with effect from 1 April 1995.^[1] He remained in the appellate court after it was reconfigured as the Supreme Court of Appeal, and he served until his death in August 2004.^[2]

His notable judgments included Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism v Phambili Fisheries, which was reviewed in the Constitutional Court as Bato Star Fishing v Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.^[3]