Samuel Henry Strong

Template:Short description Template:Infobox Judge Sir Samuel Henry Strong Template:Post-nominals (August 13, 1825 – August 31, 1909) was a lawyer and the third Chief Justice of Canada.<ref name="DCB_Strong">Template:Cite DCB</ref>

Early life

Strong was born in Poole, England, to Samuel Spratt Strong and Jane Elizabeth Gosse. He emigrated to Upper Canada with his family in 1836, settling in Bytown (later known as Ottawa). He studied law in the office of local Ottawa lawyer Augustus Keefer. He was called to the bar in 1849 and established his practice in Toronto. He was elected a bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1860 and was made a QC in 1863.<ref name="DCB_Strong" /> In 1869, Strong was appointed vice-chancellor of the Court of Chancery of Ontario.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1874 he was appointed to the Ontario Court of Error and Appeal.<ref name=":0" />

Following Confederation he advised Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald on the establishment of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada

Strong was named to the new court when it was created in 1875.

Early in the Supreme Court's history, it was criticized for the length of time it took to publish decisions in the Supreme Court Reports. Often, justices of the court handed down decisions that were not formally prepared and consisting of directions the court would take, leading to cases not being reported. Historians Snell and Vaughan note that Justice Strong was amongst the worst for this habit, with the Registrar visiting his home and threatening him with not publishing his decisions to compel Strong to complete his work. In one case the Registrar published a note "The learned judge [Strong], having mislaid his judgment, directed the reporter to report the case without it".Template:Sfn<ref>Milloy v Kerr, 1880 CanLII 5 (SCC), 8 SCR 474.</ref> By 1888, the Court's Registrar noted that 21 of 25 outstanding cases that had yet to be published were because Strong had not submitted his completed decisions.Template:Sfn

Strong had a difficult relationship with his fellow justices, and wrote to Prime Minister Macdonald to complain about Justice William Alexander Henry, even demanding his removal from the Court. Strong described Henry's judgements as "long, windy, incoherent, masses of verbiage" that misapplied applied the law, and characterized his conduct as "proof of the incompetency of the Supreme Court".Template:Sfn Strong also made private complaints about other judges, including Chief Justice Ritchie.Template:Sfn Disillusioned with the Court, Strong offered his resignation to Macdonald several times between 1884 and 1888. Although Macdonald eventually accepted the offer in 1888, Strong ultimately did not follow through with the resignation.Template:Sfn

As Chief Justice of Canada

On December 13, 1892, Strong was appointed Chief Justice of Canada by Prime Minister John Sparrow David Thompson. In 1897, Strong became the first Canadian appointed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.Template:Sfn

Historians Snell and Vaughan described the elevation of Strong to Chief Justice of the Court as a poor selection.Template:Sfn While Strong was a highly intelligent justice with an interest in the French civil law and language, Snell and Vaughan note that his personality was abrasive and his work ethic was poor.Template:Sfn Contemporary perception was also negative, with the Canada Law Journal commenting in 1896 that the Supreme Court did not have confidence of the legal profession from either English Canada or Quebec.Template:Sfn

As chief justice, Strong was described by his contemporaries as "overshadow[ing] everybody on the bench", and he "dominated without leading".Template:Sfn In an 1895 hearing, Strong became incensed with a lawyer arguing a case when he was referred to as "Mr. Strong", and left the hearing, only to return when he was sent for and apologized.Template:Sfn In the aftermath of the 1901 case King v Love, a lawyer made a written complaint to the Minister of Justice and the Colonial Secretary about Strong's behaviour.Template:Sfn In 1901, a lawyer laid assault charges against Chief Justice Strong for allegedly using violent language in the court room and later assaulting the lawyer in the hallway. Strong denied the allegations and the government ignored the issue.Template:Sfn

Strong was also known for his poor treatment of unskilled employees at the Supreme Court, including messengers and ushers, and he would often make complaints about employees that would result in their dismissal.Template:Sfn During the hearing of Chicoutimi v Price in 1898, Strong remarked an employee was incapable and should be fired in a loud enough voice the entire court could hear, however, those in the court believed the statement referred to a Quebec judge that had heard the case prior to the Supreme Court. Members of the Quebec bar were incensed by the attack on a French judge by the "arrogant English-speaking" Strong, and demanded his censure and retirement.Template:Sfn In another 1898 incident, Strong gave lawyers for an appellant less than a day’s notice to come from Toronto to attend a hearing in Ottawa. When the lawyers were unable to reach Ottawa in time, Strong's "stringent application of procedural rules" resulted in dismissal of the appeal and the Court rejecting a motion to rehear the case.Template:Sfn This was a scandal within the Ontario Bar, which passed resolutions attacking the Court. Prominent lawyer Britton Bath Osler led the movement calling on the Minister of Justice David Mills to dismiss both Strong and Gwynne. Mills threatened the Court with legislative action unless they adopted a rule to prevent the circumstances from occurring again.Template:Sfn

During his later years on the Court, Strong took several leaves of absences, including illness in 1892, 1893, 1897, 1898, 1900, 1901, and 1902, at times missing entire sittings of the Court.Template:Sfn While Strong occasionally had health issues, at other times his doctor reported he needed "rest and change" and provided a vague justification rather than a diagnosis.Template:Sfn His physical capabilities deteriorated, causing Strong to fall behind on drafting his decisions. The Department of Justice hired a stenographer to assist Strong, a role that eventually became the permanent secretary to the Chief Justice.Template:Sfn

There is considerable correspondence showing Strong held a deep animosity to Justice Gwynne, however, biographers Snell and Vaughan note that there is evidence of a friendship between Strong and Justice Girouard.Template:Sfn

During this time, Chief Justice Strong took several leaves of absence, requiring Justice Taschereau to take on additional responsibilities. However, Taschereau was annoyed with the arrangement, eventually in 1897 asking for more pay for the additional responsibilities, and in 1901 asking that someone else on the Court take on the additional responsibilities.Template:Sfn In 1902, Strong retired from the Court after Justice Minister Charles Fitzpatrick found a solution where Strong would receive his pension and a salary as the chairman of a commission to revise and consolidate the statutes of Canada.Template:Sfn At his retirement, Strong was the last of the original justices appointed in 1875 remaining on the Court.

Later life

He died in 1909 at the age of 84 and was buried in Ottawa's Beechwood Cemetery.<ref name="DCB_Strong" />

References

Works Cited

• Template:Cite book

External links

• Supreme Court of Canada Biography
• Template:Canadabio