James Stratford, PC (19 July 1869 – 17 January 1952) was a South African judge who briefly served as the Chief Justice of the Union of South Africa between 1938 and 1939.
[1][2]: 6 Born in Port Elizabeth, Stratford was educated at St Aiden's College, Grahamstown, then qualified as a surveyor before proceeding to Exeter College, Oxford, where he obtained a BA in Jurisprudence in 1897 and a BCL in 1898.
He returned to South Africa in 1901 and was admitted to the Cape bar, but transferred to Johannesburg in 1902.
[1] In 1921, Stratford was appointed a judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa.
[1] In 1938 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Union of South Africa and sworn of the Privy Council, and retired the following year upon reaching the age of seventy.