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.
Past Madam Justice Mary Southin Lectures
2024
Irit Samet, Professor, The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London
Topic: The Posthumous Trust: From Dead Hand to Mortality Management
Delivered September, 2024 at UBC
2023
Sarah Morales, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria
Estair Van Wagner, Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School York University
Topic: British Columbia’s Great Land Grab: Exploring the entanglement of fee simple property and Hul’qumi’num jurisdiction on Vancouver Island
Delivered March, 2023 at UBC
2022
Lionel Smith, Downing Professor of the Laws of England, Cambridge University
Topic: Confusion, Illusion, or Delusion: The Irreducible Core of the Common Law Trust
Delivered January, 2022 at UVic
2021
Lyndsay Campbell, Associate Professor & Associate Dean, University of Calgary
Topic: Three Things That Might Be Wrong: Surprises From The Archives
Delivered March, 2021 at UBC
2020
John McLaren, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Victoria
Topic: Lawyers in the Slammer, in Hiding and on the Usual List of Suspects: Advocating for Unpopular Causes at the British Columbia Bar, 1911-1922
Delivered January, 2020 at UVic
2019
The Honourable Selwyn Romilly, Justice, Supreme Court of British Columbia
Topic: The Accidental Judge: A Life in the Law
Delivered February, 2019 at UBC
2018
Raymond Frogner, Archivist at Royal BC Museum and previously Head of Archives at the National Centre of Truth and Reconciliation
Topic: Hanging Onto These Words: Aboriginal Title and the Social Meanings of Archival Custody
Delivered January, 2018 at UVic
2017
Evan Fox-Decent, Professor, McGill University
Topic: Can International Law Redeem Trusteeship to Indigenous Peoples?
Delivered February, 2017 at UBC
2016
Hamar Foster, Professor Emeritus, QC, University of Victoria
Topic: Another Good Thing: The Decision of the Yukon Court of Appeal in the Ross River Case
Delivered January, 2016 at UVic
2015
Jordan Stanger-Ross, Associate Professor, Faculty of Humanities, University of Victoria,
Topic: Peopling the Liquidation Policy: Who Forced the Sale of Japanese-Canadian-Owned Property, WWII?
Delivered February, 2015 at UBC
2014
Douglas C. Harris, Professor, University of British Columbia
Topic: Property & Sovereignty: An Indian Reserve in a Canadian City
Delivered February, 2014 at UVic