William Lloyd Hoyt

William Lloyd Hoyt, OC QC (born September 13, 1930) is a Canadian lawyer and judge. He was Chief Justice of New Brunswick from 1993 to 1998.

Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Hoyt received a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Arts degree from Acadia University in 1952. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Law from Emmanuel College, Cambridge in 1956 and a Master of Arts degree from Cambridge in 1979. He was called to the Bar of New Brunswick in 1957 and created a Queen's Counsel in 1972.^[1]

In 1957, he joined the Fredericton law firm of Limerick & Limerick and became a partner in 1959. He practiced law until 1981, when he was made a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench New Brunswick. In 1984, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal. He was Chief Justice of New Brunswick from 1993 to 1998. From 1959 to 1961, he was a part-time lecturer at the University of New Brunswick. He was also involved with the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the provincial art gallery of New Brunswick. He was a Governor from 1979 to 1986 and was Chairman of the acquisitions committee from 1980 to 1986.^[1]

In 1998 Hoyt was appointed a member of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, set up to establish a definitive version of the events of Sunday 30 January 1972.^[2]

In 2007, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition for being "one of New Brunswick's most esteemed lawyers and jurists".^[3] He was awarded honorary degrees from St. Thomas University (1997), the University of New Brunswick (1998), and Acadia University (2001).^[2]

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