K. K. Mathew

Who was K. K. Mathew?

K. K. Mathew was a Judge of the Supreme Court of India highly regarded for his scholarship and for his seminal contribution to the Constitutional and Administrative law in India. He later served the nation as its Tenth Law Commission Chairman and also as the Chairman of the Second Press Commission.

K. K. Mathew was born into a pious Roman Catholic Syrian Christian family; Kuttiyil, at Athirampuzha, a town in the Kottayam district of Kerala. He did his primary schooling at St. Ephraim’s High School, Mannanam, and pre-university education at the Arts College, Thiruvananthapuram.

As an earnest student, he had at a very early age spent long time applying himself in a broad variety of subjects ranging from literature and history through philosophy, which stood him in good stead during his later years. He secured the coveted Harvey Memorial Prize in essay competition and also the Victoria Jubilee Scholarship.

After passing out with a Law degree from Trivandrum Law College, Mr. Mathew was called to the bar in 1935 and began his practice of law under the late Shri. A. J. John, Anaparambil. His initial years of apprenticeship and the growing practice in the bars of Kottayam and Trivandrum, both in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore, was a preparation for a distinguished and lucrative practice that awaited him in the newly formed Kerala High Court where he shifted over to in 1956 after the formation of the State of Kerala in the same year. From then on it was meteoric rise fueled by hard work and years of dedicated scholarship.