Final legal history for legal professionals evening for 2019, Monday November 25th

Our final legal history for legal professionals evening will take place on Monday, November 25th at Osgoode Hall, 130 Queen St. West, Toronto.

Come to hear our R. Roy McMurtry Fellows discuss the fascinating research in the history of Canadian law and the legal profession that won them this award! Please RSVP to Amanda Campbell at amanda@osgoodesociety.ca.

This event is free to members of the society. Visit our membership page for details on becoming a member or renewing your membership. https://www.osgoodesociety.ca/membership/


Anna Jarvis,, PHD candidate in history at York University will speak on Patronage and the Canadian Colonial Judiciary: Edward Jarvis of Prince Edward Island."
This presentation will look at the role patronage played in the life and career of Edward James Jarvis, who was Chief Justice of Prince Edward Island from 1828-1852. Jarvis was part of a second generation of Loyalist families whose fathers sought to further their son's careers by drawing on professional, community, and family ties, networks those sons in turn drew on for their own sons. Jarvis sought the patronage of fellow attorneys, judges, colonial officials, and other prominent figures to further his legal career, illustrating the ways in which the patronage system functioned to maintain social, economic, and political divisions and hierarchies within colonial society.


Filippo Sposini, PHD candidate at the Institute of History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, will speak on 'Just the Basic Facts: The Certification of Insanity in Ontario (1870s-1890s)"
The certification of insanity was a medico-legal procedure regulating admission into psychiatric institutions. My presentation will focus on the certification procedure developed during the second half of the nineteenth-century in Ontario. Taking the Toronto Lunatic Asylum as a case study, I will explore the introduction of certificates of insanity, examination practices, and people involved in the process. I will show that certification in Ontario was a consensus-based procedure shielding medical practitioners from potential legal actions.