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Full-Text Articles in Legal History
Introduction (Excerpt) In Justice Bertha Wilson: One Woman's Difference, Kim Brooks
Introduction (Excerpt) In Justice Bertha Wilson: One Woman's Difference, Kim Brooks
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Bertha Wilson was the first woman to be appointed to Canada's Supreme Court in 1982. Her appointment capped off a career of firsts. She had been the first woman lawyer and partner at a prominent Toronto law firm and the first woman appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal. Her career and passing in 2007 have provoked reflection on her contributions to Canadian society and caused many to reflect on the question she herself posed: what difference do women judges make? What follows is an excerpt from the introduction to the book. The chapters of the book explore a broad …
Matters Of Faith And Conscience: A Turning Point In The Taking Of Oaths In Canada, David H. Michels
Matters Of Faith And Conscience: A Turning Point In The Taking Of Oaths In Canada, David H. Michels
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
The global expansion of the British Empire brought to its colonies British legal traditions. Non-British peoples and cultures had to adapt to these imposed legal traditions, but also left their own indelible marks of change. Following years of immigration in Canada, change was necessitated across the social order to accommodate new faiths and cultural practices of non-British origin. One example involved the taking of court oaths, a practice that in the British legal tradition traces its roots to the Protestant Christian faith. Focusing on the example of court oaths, we argue that as immigration surged at the turn of the …