Three things that might be wrong: surprises from the archives
Calling to mind Madam Justice Mary Southin’s commitments to legal history, ethics, process and constitutionalism, this talk will discuss three surprises Dr. Campbell has come across through her historical research on law over the last several years. The first concerns the operation of the doctrine of coverture in the United States in the early nineteenth century and its effects on married women’s participation in lawsuits. The second concerns the jurisdictional divide we normally take for granted between courts and legislatures: legislative contempt proceedings caused huge constitutional uproar both in Britain and in its colonies in the mid-nineteenth century. The third surprise arises from Dr. Campbell’s interest in nineteenth-century constitutional thought and the impact of the 1867 constitution on the development of that thought as it pertained to individual rights and discrimination. Offering as many questions as answers, this talk will cause us to reflect on the truths we as lawyers tell ourselves about our institutions and our pasts.
About the Madam Justice Mary Southin Lecture
The annual Madam Justice Mary Southin Lecture focuses on the law of equity or British Columbia legal history and is held alternately at the Allard School of Law and the Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria.
Madam Justice Southin graduated from the law school in 1952 and was called to the bar in 1953. Over the years, she earned a tremendous reputation with the Bench, her colleagues and litigants for her representation of a wide range of clients in a very broad litigation practice. Madam Justice Southin was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1969, was elected a Bencher in 1971, and became the Treasurer of the Law Society in 1977. She was the Editor in Chief of the British Columbia Law Reports from 1979 until her appointment to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 1985. She was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 1998 and retired in 2006.
This important lecture pays tribute to her legacy by reminding others to pay heed to these two important influences - law of equity and legal history - on the legal profession.
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