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Dalhousie Law Journal

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The Thousandth Man: A Biography Of James Mcgregor Stewart By Barry Cahill, Timothy C. Matthews Oct 2000

The Thousandth Man: A Biography Of James Mcgregor Stewart By Barry Cahill, Timothy C. Matthews

Dalhousie Law Journal

Barry Cahill, senior government archivist at Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, and former editor of the Nova Scotia Historical Review, has painstakingly delved into the social, political, educational and legal atmosphere of the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries in Nova Scotia, by researching and writing a fascinating biography of James McGregor Stewart, now published on behalf of the Osgoode Society. The book succeeds in portraying both the humanity of this Renaissance man and his pivotal role in so many different milieux, such that Canadian Lawyer could and would refer to him as the most …

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The Course Of Law Cannot Be Stopped': The Aftermath Of The Cumberland Rebellion In The Civil Courts Of Nova Scotia, Jim Phillips, Ernest A. Clarke Oct 1998

The Course Of Law Cannot Be Stopped': The Aftermath Of The Cumberland Rebellion In The Civil Courts Of Nova Scotia, Jim Phillips, Ernest A. Clarke

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article examines a series of cases launched in the Nova Scotia courts following the Cumberland Rebellion of 1776. In these cases loyalists sued former rebels, including those granted amnesty by the authorities, for losses sustained during the rebellion. The article traces the history of the cases and places them in the context of post-rebellion government policy. It argues that such proceedings were without precedent and effectively took the place of official schemes of expropriation of rebel land and compensation to loyalists. It also suggests that the use of civil courts in this way prolonged and exacerbated the social and …

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Collective Violence In Ferryland District, Newfoundland, 1788, Christopher English Oct 1998

Collective Violence In Ferryland District, Newfoundland, 1788, Christopher English

Dalhousie Law Journal

In September 1788 a court found 114 men guilty of riotous assembly in the district of Ferryland the previous winter. This event is remarkable for the number involved (45% of the adult male population of the district); for the number of charges (21% of all civil and criminal actions heard in the district's courts over the next 25 years); for the absence of damage to property; and for the severity of the sentences, which included loss of wages, flogging, transportation and banishment. These proceedings occurred in a community where *the majority (Irish planters, fishermen and apprentices) were socially distinct from …

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Acquiring The Law: The Private Law Library Of William Young, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1835, William Laurence Oct 1998

Acquiring The Law: The Private Law Library Of William Young, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1835, William Laurence

Dalhousie Law Journal

In 1835, Halifax lawyer William Young, who would later become premier and chief justice of Nova Scotia, as well as a founder of Dalhousie Law School, compiled a catalogue of his personal law library. In the catalogue, Young identifiedthe short title, the price, and if applicable, the number of copies or volumes, for each item in his collection. Through an examination of Young's catalogue, as well as contemporary correspondence, journals, and business records, and, where identifiable, Young's former texts, this study discusses the nature, sources, and to a certain extent, the actual use of Young's law library. This study demonstrates …

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Canadian State Trials, Vol. 1, Michael Boudreau Apr 1997

Canadian State Trials, Vol. 1, Michael Boudreau

Dalhousie Law Journal

In a letter to Deputy Judge Advocate Charles Gould, dated 10 April 1762, General Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief of British forces in North America, wrote with regard to the proceedings of the general courts martial in Montreal that "it is a Maxim held by all Civilians That no government can subsist without Law." Over half a century later in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland, William Elenes filed an affidavit with the Harbour Grace Sessions Court alleging that a group of men stole some potatoes from his house. "Late in March of [ 1817]," the statement read, "John McGrath with a gun and two …

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Inside The Law: Canadian Law Firms In Historical Perspective, Douglas C. Harris Apr 1997

Inside The Law: Canadian Law Firms In Historical Perspective, Douglas C. Harris

Dalhousie Law Journal

This collection of essays edited by Carol Wilton' chronicles the changing character of Canadian law firms from the "golden age" of the sole practitioner in the nineteenth century to the mega-firms of the late twentieth. Most of the essays describe the changing profession through a case study of a single lawyer or firm, and Wilton has collected a representative sample of firms from across the country. Some of the firms remained small or disappeared, while others grew into full-service corporate commercial law firms of several hundred lawyers. Most of the essays focus on the personalities of the lawyers involved, their …

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Characterization Of Limitation Statutes In Canadian Private International Law: The Rocky Road Of Change, John P. Mcevoy Oct 1996

Characterization Of Limitation Statutes In Canadian Private International Law: The Rocky Road Of Change, John P. Mcevoy

Dalhousie Law Journal

Prior to the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Tolofson v. Jensen limitations statutes were characterized, prima facie, as procedural for purposes of Canadian private international law. The principal authority for this characterization was the 1835 case of Huber v. Steiner in which an action was brought on a promissory note made in France in 1813 and payable in 1817. The defendant argued that the French Code de commerce applied and that the right of action was extinguished by the provision that "all actions ... prescribe themselves by five years reckoning from the day of protest ..... Tindal C.J. recognized …

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Law Reports From A Non-Colony And A Penal Colony: The Australian Manuscript Decisions Of Sir Francis Forbes As Chief Justice Of Newfoundland, Bruce Kercher Oct 1996

Law Reports From A Non-Colony And A Penal Colony: The Australian Manuscript Decisions Of Sir Francis Forbes As Chief Justice Of Newfoundland, Bruce Kercher

Dalhousie Law Journal

The author reports on the existence and contents of a manuscript copy of a selection of judgments by Sir Francis Forbes while he was Chief Justice of Newfoundland from 1817-1822. The manuscript found its way into the State Library of New South Wales sometime after Forbes' translation to New South Wales as its first Chief Justice in 1823. The author comments on the insights these manuscript reports afford of the early legal history of Newfoundland as it developed into a British colony. In particular, he draws attention to the significance of twenty-nine judgments in the manuscript but not available in …

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The Mi'kmaq And The Fishery: Beyond Food Requirements, Bruce H. Wildsmith Apr 1995

The Mi'kmaq And The Fishery: Beyond Food Requirements, Bruce H. Wildsmith

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Mi'kmaq, the traditional Aboriginal nation in Nova Scotia, are struggling to find their place in the modern fishery. Significant milestones have been achieved, including the Denny, Paul and Sylliboy (N.S.C.A.) case establishing the right of the Mi'kmaq to harvest fish for food and the Simon (S.C.C.) case affirming the continuing validityof the Mi'kmaq Treatyof 1752, a treaty that contains an express right to sell fish. Though fishing by the Mi'kmaq for food no longer appears to be a subject of controversy (assuming the needs of conservation have been met), the spectre of commercial aspects to the Mi'kmaq fishery is …

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The Supreme Court Of Nova Scotia, Responsible Government, And The Quest For Legitimacy, 1850-1920, Philip Girard Oct 1994

The Supreme Court Of Nova Scotia, Responsible Government, And The Quest For Legitimacy, 1850-1920, Philip Girard

Dalhousie Law Journal

Wallace Graham was one of the ablest judges ever to sit on the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. Born of humble Baptist parentage in Antigonish in 1848, the yearNova Scotia's firstReform government took office, he was truly one of the sons of responsible government: that group of non-61ite, non-Halifax, non-Anglican men who left their stamp on the province's political order after mid-century. Appointed to the bench in 1889, he sat for twenty-six years as puisne judge and judge in equity before being named chief justice in 1915. Sadly, he occupied the post for only two years, dying suddenly in office …

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Sedition In Nova Scotia: R. V. Wilkie (1820) And The Incontestable Illegality Of Seditious Libel Before R. V. Howe (1835), Barry Cahill Oct 1994

Sedition In Nova Scotia: R. V. Wilkie (1820) And The Incontestable Illegality Of Seditious Libel Before R. V. Howe (1835), Barry Cahill

Dalhousie Law Journal

Given its primacy and exceptionality in the Nova Scotian context, Wilkie both exemplifies the judiciary's role in official repression, and instantiates the importance of what Wright calls "the ideological mechanisms of the criminal law" in prescribing the outer limits of legitimate political discourse. This paper examines the first known use by the government of Nova Scotia of the eighteenth-century, judicially-invented misdemeanour of seditious libel in order to silence and punish criticism of the ruling eite. As Nova Scotia had neither indigenous caselaw, nor statutory legislation to supplement and reinforce the common law offence-Upper Canada's SeditionAct (1804) was still in full …

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Genre Et Gestion Du Pouvoir Communautaire À Annapolis Royal Au 18e Siècle, Maurice Basque Oct 1994

Genre Et Gestion Du Pouvoir Communautaire À Annapolis Royal Au 18e Siècle, Maurice Basque

Dalhousie Law Journal

La communauté acadienne de Port-Royal est saisie d'une affaire d'enfant illégitime en 1726. Marie Daigle, épouse de Jacques Goutille, accuse un homme marié, Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil, époux d'Agnès Thibodeau, d'être le père de l'enfant naturel de sa fille Marie. Marie Daigle présenta la cause de sa file devant le conseil du lieutenant-gouverneur de la Nouvelle-Écosse, John Doucett. Le Conseil décida en faveur de Marie Daigle fille en obligeant Joseph Broussard de lui verser une pension. La mère de Broussard, Catherine Richard, veuve de François Broussard, se présenta également devant le meme conseil et obtint une réduction de la somme …

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The Admiralty Court In Colonial Nova Scotia, Arthur J. Stone Oct 1994

The Admiralty Court In Colonial Nova Scotia, Arthur J. Stone

Dalhousie Law Journal

The establishment of the "Admiralty Court", which was formally known as the Nova Scotia Court of Vice-Admiralty, had preceded Cornwallis's arrival by several years. In the late summer of 1720, when Richard Philipps was both Governor and Vice-Admiral at Nova Scotia's old royal capital of Annapolis, Daniel Henry was appointed as Judge, Arthur Savage as Register and Cypryan Southack as Marshal in vice-admiralty. Less than a decade later, during the winter of 1729, the principal offices of a court of vice-admiralty went to John Bradstreet as Judge, Erasmus James Philipps as Advocate General, James Gibson as Register and Archibald Rennie …

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Mr. Justice Roland Ritchie: A Biography, Thomas Stinson Oct 1994

Mr. Justice Roland Ritchie: A Biography, Thomas Stinson

Dalhousie Law Journal

Mr. Justice Roland Almon Ritchie (1910-1988) was the most recent Nova Scotian to have been on the bench of the Supreme Court of Canada, serving for a quarter-century (1959-1984). Judicial biographies in this country are rare enough that any addition to the literature can be justified but Ritchie is an especially intriguing choice. He served on the bench for a long period, there is a wealth of information regarding his formative years courtesy of the published diaries of his older brother, Charles, and he is regarded as the embodiment of conservatism in a court that has frequently been described as …

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The Search For Resolution Of The Canada-France Ocean Dispute Adjacent To St. Pierre And Miquelon, Ted L. Mcdorman Apr 1994

The Search For Resolution Of The Canada-France Ocean Dispute Adjacent To St. Pierre And Miquelon, Ted L. Mcdorman

Dalhousie Law Journal

They were not to become an "object of jealously" according to the British and French in 1783. True to this admonition, the French islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon have remained as the uncontested footnotes to France's colonial presence in North America. However, the ocean area and resources adjacent to the French islands became the object of intense jealously, being the centre of a thorny, 25 year international dispute between Canada and France.

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Law Reform Error: Retry Or Abort?, Audrey Macklin Oct 1993

Law Reform Error: Retry Or Abort?, Audrey Macklin

Dalhousie Law Journal

The void left by the demise of the Law Reform Commission of Canada (LRCC) in 1991 presents an opportunity to rethink the scope and legitimacy of law reform as it has been conceptualized and practised by academic lawyers. I am concerned that the dominant meaning ascribed to the term "federal law reform" under the tenure of the LRCC was partial, inadequate, and ultimately conservatizing in its influence. In reviewing past commentary on law reform in Canada, I have been struck by the recurring themes that emerged from the literature. I was particularly impressed by an exceptional piece written by the …

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Ideology And The Emergence Of Legal Aid In Saskatchewan, Jennie Abell Apr 1993

Ideology And The Emergence Of Legal Aid In Saskatchewan, Jennie Abell

Dalhousie Law Journal

My work at Saskatchewan legal aid (from 1978 to 1982) generated questions for me about law and social change, and about the origins of legal aid in the context of the expansion of the welfare state. I examined the history of legal aid under the N.D.P. in Saskatchewan from 1974-1982 in an earlier work.' I concluded that the Saskatchewan N.D.P did not significantly differ from other provincial parties in its handling of legal aid during that period, and in that sense that legal aid as it was elaborated under a social democratic government was not fundamentally altered.

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Discrimination, The Right To Seek Redress And The Common Law: A Century-Old Debate, Béatrice Vizkelety Oct 1992

Discrimination, The Right To Seek Redress And The Common Law: A Century-Old Debate, Béatrice Vizkelety

Dalhousie Law Journal

Does discrimination law have anything in common with the common law? This question, which may have been reworded from time to time in deference to the age in which it was raised, is one which has recurred with remarkable tenacity throughout most of this century. It is also a question which continues, despite initial impressions, to be relevant to the manner in which adjudicatots interpret and apply anti-discrimination legislation today.

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The "Colored Barrister": The Short Life And Tragic Death Of James Robinson Johnston, 1876-1915, Barry Cahill Oct 1992

The "Colored Barrister": The Short Life And Tragic Death Of James Robinson Johnston, 1876-1915, Barry Cahill

Dalhousie Law Journal

The mortal remains of James Robinson Johnston, Nova Scotia's first Black lawyer, lie buried in the family plot at Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax. The gravestone epigraphy records that he was a Good Templar, a Freemason and an Oddfellow; his Dalhousie University degrees (one of them inaccurately); and the fact that he died a mere nine days short of his thirty-ninth birthday. "Gone but not forgotten" reads the epitaph, much less ironically now - in view of the fact that the recently established Chair in Black Canadian Studies at his alma mater has been named in Johnston's honour-than it ever …

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The Constitution And Immigration: The Impact Of The Proposed Changes To The Immigration Power Under The Constitution Act, 1867, Davies Bagambiire Oct 1992

The Constitution And Immigration: The Impact Of The Proposed Changes To The Immigration Power Under The Constitution Act, 1867, Davies Bagambiire

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article examines the impact that the suggested changes would have on the immigration power as presently set forth in sections 95 and 91(25) of the Constitution Act, 1867, and on Canadian immigration policy generally. First, it discusses how the present immigration power is allocated as between the federal government and the provinces, how it has been exercised or attempted to be exercisedby the two levels of government and how it has evolved and been interpreted by the Courts. Secondly, it looks at the problems that could arise as a result of the federal government transferring some of its immigration …

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The Scottish Enlightenment, The Democratic Intellect And The Work Of Madame Justice Wilson, Alan Watson Jul 1992

The Scottish Enlightenment, The Democratic Intellect And The Work Of Madame Justice Wilson, Alan Watson

Dalhousie Law Journal

To talk of Madame Justice Wilson in the context of her Scottish background, the Scottish Enlightenment and the Democratic Intellect is one of the most exciting yet daunting tasks I have undertaken. A huge problem, which I will mention first but not discuss, has been to get to grips with her towering intellect. As will become clear, this problem was much diminished by Madame Justice Wilson herself: she writes with a simplicity, grace, rationality and humanity that may even lead one to underestimate the complexity of her thought.

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Tribute To Madame Justice Bertha Wilson, Foreword, And Preface, A Kim Campbell Jul 1992

Tribute To Madame Justice Bertha Wilson, Foreword, And Preface, A Kim Campbell

Dalhousie Law Journal

On behalf of the Government of Canada, I am pleased to convey my best wishes to all those participating in 'The Democratic Intellect" Symposium being hosted by Dalhousie Law School in honour of Madame Justice Bertha Wilson's contribution to the law and to the life of Canada.

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The Democratic Intellect: The State In The Work Of Madame Justice Wilson, Philip L. Bryden Jul 1992

The Democratic Intellect: The State In The Work Of Madame Justice Wilson, Philip L. Bryden

Dalhousie Law Journal

It is a great honour to have been asked to provide an essay for this volume of reflections on the contribution Madame Justice Bertha Wilson has made to the development of law in Canada. To a certain extent, this is a matter of pride in finding my own name associated with that of the very learned and respected individuals who have set out their thoughts in this collection of articles. In the main, however, the honour comes from the opportunity to make a public statement of my own respect and admiration for Madame Justice Wilson and the significant role that …

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The Constituents Of Democracy: The Individual In The Work Of Madame Justice Wilson, Danielle Pinard Jul 1992

The Constituents Of Democracy: The Individual In The Work Of Madame Justice Wilson, Danielle Pinard

Dalhousie Law Journal

I shall attempt to share with you the impression I have of Judge Wilson's conception of the individual. I will try to present a general view of what occurred to me as I went through the opinions she wrote while at the Supreme Court of Canada, alone or with the assent of her colleagues, dissenting or in agreement with the majority.' I shall try to put together, as honestly as possible, what she explicitly said on the subject in question.

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The "Family" In The Work Of Madame Justice Wilson, Mary Jane Mossman Jul 1992

The "Family" In The Work Of Madame Justice Wilson, Mary Jane Mossman

Dalhousie Law Journal

Susan Moller Okin's assertion about the need for justice in families offers a challenging starting point for an assessment of the family in the work of Justice Wilson. Her assertion challenges us for a number of reasons. First, in claiming that justice in the family is a prerequisite to a just society, Okin compels us to focus careful attention on our family relationships if we aspire to a just resolution of our public and political debates. For her, a satisfactory theory of justice can be developed only if it takes account of the structures and power in family relationships, and …

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The Origin And Evolution Of The Attorney And Solicitor In The Legal Profession Of Nova Scotia, Barry Cahill Oct 1991

The Origin And Evolution Of The Attorney And Solicitor In The Legal Profession Of Nova Scotia, Barry Cahill

Dalhousie Law Journal

D.G. Bell has observed that the torrent "of historical writing on Canadian legal education has yet to be matched by intensive study of the legal profession itself." The aim of the present paper is to demonstrate that, for eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Nova Scotia, the development of the legal profession was so closely linked to the evolution of the superior courts, especially the Court of Chancery, that the former cannot be studied in isolation from the latter. By the time Halifax was founded in 1749, the attorney at law and solicitor in equity had not only been statutorily entrenched as …

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An Essay On Institutional Responsibility: The Indigenous Blacks And Micmac Programme At Dalhousie Law School, Richard F. Devlin, A Wayne Mackay Oct 1991

An Essay On Institutional Responsibility: The Indigenous Blacks And Micmac Programme At Dalhousie Law School, Richard F. Devlin, A Wayne Mackay

Dalhousie Law Journal

Dalhousie Law School, like most other law schools, as a tribute to its graduates and as a manifestation of its traditions, adorns its walls with class photographs of years gone by. However, if one were to stop and scrutinize more carefully these pictures one might want to reconsider the tradition in a more circumspect light. Perhaps one might notice that until the nineteen sixties women were few and far between and that even now they still make up less than half of most graduating classes. More conspicuous still, is the general absence of First Nations peoples from the celebratory pageant. …

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Labour Relations In The Academy: A Case Study At The University Of Saskatchewan, Peter Mackinnon Oct 1991

Labour Relations In The Academy: A Case Study At The University Of Saskatchewan, Peter Mackinnon

Dalhousie Law Journal

In the wake of a protracted period of faculty unrest at the University of Saskatchewan, two decisions of the province's Labour Relations Board, and an award of a sole arbitrator will have more enduring significance than the dispute that engendered them. In this paper I propose to consider this trilogy and comment on its importance in an assessment of labour relations in an academic setting.

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Faultless Reasoning: Reconstructing The Foundations Of Civil Responsibility In Quebec Since Codification, David Howes May 1991

Faultless Reasoning: Reconstructing The Foundations Of Civil Responsibility In Quebec Since Codification, David Howes

Dalhousie Law Journal

In The Civil Law System of the Province of Quebec, Jean-Gabriel Castel writes, To know the Quebec law of contract, it is sufficient to read the articles of the Civil Code dealing with this topic and the cases decided since its enactment. If in the common-law system it is absolutely necessary to know history to understand, for instance, the essential division between law and equity ... this is not the case in France or in Quebec. There, the civil law is logically organized, it is not the product of a historical evolution or of a long line of decided cases. …

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The Faculty Of Law, University Of British Columbia 1981-90, Joost Blom May 1991

The Faculty Of Law, University Of British Columbia 1981-90, Joost Blom

Dalhousie Law Journal

It may be uninspiring to begin a sketch of the UBC Law Faculty since 1981 by talking about money, but the Faculty's financial circumstances during this period are the key to much of what follows. For about five years from 1982, the provincial government's fiscal watchword was "restraint", which so far as the universities were concerned meant, in the early years, actually cutting operating grants and, later on, keeping a fairly tight lid on them. UBC's budget fell in absolute terms for three successive years, and continued to slip in real terms for another year or two. The Law Faculty …

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