Robert Sedgewick (jurist)

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For other men with the same name, see Robert Sedgewick
Robert Sedgewick
Robert Sedgewick

Robert Sedgewick (10 May 18484 August 1906) was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Sedgewick's family immigrated to Nova Scotia while he was still an infant. He was educated at Dalhousie University in Halifax, graduating in 1867. He articled in Cornwall, Ontario, in the private practice of John Sandfield Macdonald, who was at that time both the Premier and the Attorney General of Ontario. Sedgewick was called to the bar in Ontario in 1872, and in Nova Scotia in 1873 following his return to the province. Sedgwick then established a private practice in Halifax, and subsequently played an essential role in the establishment of the law school at Dalhousie in 1883.

Beginning in the 1870s, Sedgewick became active in the Conservative Party of Canada. The connections thus established would serve him well, as his friend and former Halifax colleague John Sparrow David Thompson, who had become the federal Minister of Justice, appointed Sedgewick as Deputy Minister of Justice in February 1888. In this capacity, he played an important role in the establishment of the first formalised Canadian Criminal Code, which was enacted in 1892. Thompson, who had by then become the Prime Minister of Canada, also appointed Sedgewick to the Supreme Court of Canada on 18 February 1893, a position he was to hold until his death in 1906.

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Legal Offices
Preceded by
Samuel Henry Strong
Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
February 18, 1893 – August 4, 1906
Succeeded by
Lyman Duff
The Strong court (18921902)
18921893: T. Fournier | H. Taschereau | J. Gwynne | C. Patterson
18931895: T. Fournier | H. Taschereau | J. Gwynne | R. Sedgewick | G. King
18951901: H. Taschereau | J. Gwynne | R. Sedgewick | G. King | D. Girouard
1901– January 1902: H. Taschereau | J. Gwynne | R. Sedgewick | D. Girouard | L. Davies
February 1902 - November 1902: H. Taschereau | R. Sedgewick | D. Girouard | L. Davies | D. Mills
The Taschereau court (19021906)
19021903: R. Sedgewick | D. Girouard | L. Davies | D. Mills | J. Armour
19031905: R. Sedgewick | D. Girouard | L. Davies | W. Nesbitt | A. Killam
19051906: R. Sedgewick | D. Girouard | L. Davies | J. Idington | J. Maclennan
The Fitzpatrick court (19061918)
June 1906 – August 1906: R. Sedgewick | D. Girouard | L. Davies | J. Idington | J. Maclennan
September 19061909: D. Girouard | L. Davies | J. Idington | J. Maclennan | L. Duff
1909-1911: D. Girouard | L. Davies | J. Idington | L. Duff | F. Anglin
1911-1918: L. Davies | J. Idington | L. Duff | F. Anglin | L. Brodeur