the Volksraad's Constitution, a "document born of political compromise between warring factions rather than any kind of coherent legal document". The Constitution was seen as "so vague and obscure in so many areas that it had never been treated with the seriousness and respect which such a document usually merits. Kruger's action was widely seen as unwarranted interference with the independence of the judiciary." The Second Boer War soon followed in 1899, with every Boer town in the hands of the British, "President Kruger fled/went in exile in the Netherlands". Over 26,000 women and children were to perish in the War's concentration camps. In 1898 Kotzé resumed legal practice in Pretoria. He was appointed Attorney-General of Southern Rhodesia in 1900, and took silk as King's Counsel in April 1902. He was appointed judge of the Eastern Districts Court of the Cape Colony in 1903, he became Judge-President of that division in 1904. He was then appointed judge of the Supreme Court of the Cape Provincial Division in 1913, becoming Judge-President in 1920. When Justice Christian Maasdorp retired in 1922, Kotzé became Judge of Appeal, starting in 1922 until his retirement in 1927. To conclude some historic career highlights, it is noted in a nutshell by the Supreme Court of Appeal Homepage that: "the judicial career of Sir John Gilbert Kotzé (1849–1940) spanned 50 years from his appointment in 1877, when he was a mere 27 years old, until his retirement in 1927. As chief justice of the Transvaal Republic he was dismissed by President Kruger when he held that the courts had the right to test against the Constitution, and declare invalid, resolutions and acts passed by the legislature." To date, Books of "Latin and High Dutch of the Roman-Dutch old authorities is occasionally still used, as at times it is necessary for a modern judge to delve into these old authorities to search for the origin and scope of an otherwise obscure legal rule or doctrine." Honours and awards Kotzé was knighted in February 1917. Judge Kotzé's personal book collection of over 1500 books, is still to date referred to and used by the Supreme Court of Appeal Judges. It is said of Kotzé: "A noted scholar, a man of immense learning and a collector of books, his collection of 1556 titles, bought by the government in 1927 for £800, formed the nucleus of the then fledgling library of