Brian Dickson

by Sharpe, Robert Joel; Roach, Kent

• ISBN13: 9780802089526
• ISBN10: 0802089526
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr

Summary

When Brian Dickson was appointed in 1973, the Supreme Court of Canada was preoccupied with run-of-the-mill disputes. By the time he retired as Chief Justice of Canada in 1990, the Court had become a major national institution, very much in the public eye. The Court's decisions, reforming large areas of private and public law under the Charter of Rights, were the subject of intense public interest and concern.Brian Dickson played a leading role in this transformation. Engaging and incisive, Brian Dickson: A Judge's Journey traces Dickson's life from a Depression-era boyhood in Saskatchewan, to the battlefields of Normandy, the boardrooms of corporate Canada and high judicial office, and provides an inside look at the work of the Supreme Court during its most crucial period. Dickson's journey was an important part of the evolution of the Canadian judiciary and of Canada itself. Sharpe and Roach have written an accessible biography of one of Canada's greatest legal figures that provides new insights into the work of Canada's highest court.

Author Biography

Robert J. Sharpe is a judge with the Ontario Court of Appeal. Kent Roach is Professor of Law at the University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Preface	ix
Part One: Introduction
A Judge's Journey	3	(26)
Part Two: Life before the Bench, 1916-1963
Prairie Upbringing	29	(19)
Off to War	48	(17)
Law and Business; Family and Community	65	(26)
Part Three: A Judge in Manitoba, 1963-1973
Queen's Bench	91	(19)
Court of Appeal	110	(25)
Part Four: The Supreme Court, 1973-1984
Starting Slowly	135	(23)
Gaining Ground	158	(21)
Compassion and Equity	179	(23)
Write and Rewrite	202	(16)
Fault and Free Will	218	(22)
Balanced Federalism	240	(23)
Patriation of the Constitution	263	(22)
Part Five: Chief Justice and the Charter, 1984-1990
Chief Justice	285	(24)
Building the Foundations	309	(28)
Continuity and Change	337	(13)
Cracks in the Foundations	350	(27)
Feeling the Strain	377	(20)
Equality Rights	397	(15)
Language Rights and National Unity	412	(30)
The Honour of the Crown	442	(23)
Part Six: Retirement, 1990-1998
Dickson of Canada	465	(18)
Notes	483	(70)
Illustration Credits	553	(2)
Index	555