Bora Laskin

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Rt. Hon. Bora Laskin
In office
December 27, 1973 – March 17, 1984
Appointed by Pierre Trudeau
Preceded by Gérald Fauteux
Succeeded by Brian Dickson
Born October 5, 1912
Fort William, Ontario
Died March 26, 1984

Bora Laskin, PC , CC , LL.M , LL.B , MA , FRSC (October 5, 1912 – March 17, 1984) was a Canadian jurist, who served on the Supreme Court of Canada for fourteen years, including a decade as its Chief Justice.

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[edit] Early life

Born in Fort William, Ontario, the son of Max Laskin and Bluma Zingel, Laskin was educated at the University of Toronto and Osgoode Hall Law School. From 1933 to 1936, he served his articles and continued to study at the University of Toronto. He received the degrees of MA in 1935 and LL.B in 1936. In 1937, he received an LL.M. from Harvard Law School.

[edit] Career

Despite his superior academic record, Laskin, who was Jewish, was unable to find work at any law firm of note, because of the anti-Semitism that pervaded the English-Canadian legal profession at the time. As a result, his first job after graduating was writing headnotes (i.e., article synoposes) for a legal journal. Ultimately, Laskin decided to pursue his career in academia.

From 1940 to 1965 he taught at the University of Toronto (except for the period 1945 - 1949 when he taught at Osgoode Hall Law School). For twenty-three years he served as associate editor of Dominion Law Reports and Canadian Criminal Cases. He also wrote Canadian Constitutional Law and many other legal texts.

His career on the bench began in 1965 with his appointment to the Ontario Court of Appeal. On March 19, 1970 he was appointed by Pierre Trudeau to the Supreme Court, becoming the first Jew to sit on the Court. He was appointed Chief Justice by Trudeau on December 27, 1973, a position he held until his death in 1984.

On March 13, 1984 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

[edit] Judgments

Laskin was a liberal jurist who often found himself on the minority side of decisions. His specialty was labour law and constitutional law and he had a reputation as a civil libertarian.

On matters of federalism under the Constitution Act, 1867, Laskin has been considered the most aggressive supporter of the federal powers of any justice since Confederation. This made for a stark contrast with fellow Justice Jean Beetz, who was known as one of the strongest supporters of provincial powers under the Constitution.

In his earlier years on the Supreme Court, Laskin was frequently in dissent. He often took the position that would later become the majority in future generations of the Court. Among his most famous dissents was his opinion in Murdoch v. Murdoch, where he was the sole judge to vote in favour of the wife of an abusive husband in a case regarding the division of matrimonial property. The outcome of the case was highly controversial. Years later, Laskin said that the position he took in this case was the likely cause of his promotion to Chief Justice over the more senior Ronald Martland. With Laskin's promotion, the tradition of elevating the most senior Justice to Chief Justice was broken for the third time, and the first time in many years (the first two occasions being in 1906 and 1924) The convention prior to the appointment of Laskin was to alternate between the most senior judge from Quebec and the common law provinces.

He presided over a number of landmark cases, most notably the 1981 reference to the Court on Pierre Trudeau's attempt to have the federal government unilaterally patriate the British North America Act without the consent of the provinces (see Canadian Constitution). The Laskin court ruled that while such a unilateral action was technically constitutional, it would also violate the constitutional convention that had emerged since Canadian Confederation. As a result of the decision, Trudeau decided to begin a new round of negotiations with the provinces, which resulted in a new Constitution being agreed to by all provinces save Quebec.

Bora Laskin later married and had two children: John, who followed in his father's footsteps and became a judge at the Court of Appeal for Ontario, and Barbara. His grandson (the son of his daughter) carries on his name.

[edit] Recognition

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Legal Offices
Preceded by
Gérald Fauteux		 Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
March 19, 1970 – December 27, 1973		 Succeeded by
Brian Dickson
Preceded by
Gérald Fauteux		 Chief Justice of Canada
December 27, 1973 – March 17, 1984		 Succeeded by
Brian Dickson


Chief Justices of Canada
Richards • Ritchie • Strong • H. E. Taschereau • Fitzpatrick • Davies • Anglin • Duff • Rinfret
Kerwin • R. Taschereau • Cartwright • Fauteux • Laskin • Dickson • Lamer • McLachlin
The Fauteux court (1970–1973)
1970–1973: D. Abbott | R. Martland | W. Judson | R. Ritchie | E.M. Hall | W.F. Spence | L. Pigeon | B. Laskin |
The Laskin court (1973–1984)
1973–1977: R. Martland | W. Judson | R. Ritchie | W.F. Spence | L. Pigeon | B. Dickson | J. Beetz | L.P. de Grandpré
1977–1978: R. Martland | R. Ritchie | W.F. Spence | L. Pigeon | B. Dickson | J. Beetz | W.Z. Estey | Y. Pratte
Jan. 1979-Sept. 1979: R. Martland | R. Ritchie | L. Pigeon | B. Dickson | J. Beetz | W.Z. Estey | Y. Pratte | W.R. McIntyre
Sept. 1979-1980: R. Martland | R. Ritchie | L. Pigeon | B. Dickson | J. Beetz | W.Z. Estey | W.R. McIntyre | J. Chouinard
1980-1982: R. Martland | R. Ritchie | B. Dickson | J. Beetz | W.Z. Estey | W.R. McIntyre | J. Chouinard | A. Lamer
1982-1984 R. Ritchie | B. Dickson | J. Beetz | W.Z. Estey | W.R. McIntyre | J. Chouinard | A. Lamer | B. Wilson

[[Category:Osgoode Hall Law School

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