Boshoff was born in Amersfoort in the Transvaal Province of the Union of South Africa.
After school he studied law at the University of Pretoria, where he obtained the degrees BA and LLB.
In 1985, he was elevated to the Supreme Court of South Africa, where he served as appeal judge until his retirement.
[2][3] Boshoff was the presiding judge in the so-called Little Rivonia Trial, in which several members of the armed resistance organization Umkhonto we Sizwe faced charges of sabotage.
[4] In 1985, Boshoff ordered the South African Medical and Dental Council to hold an inquiry into the conduct of the two doctors who treated Steve Biko during the five days before he died, as he found that there was prima facie evidence of misconduct by the doctors.