John Wellington Gwynne

John Wellington Gwynne (April 1896)

John Wellington Gwynne , QC (* the 30th March 1814 in Castleknock , County Dublin , Ireland ; † 7. January 1902 ) was a Canadian lawyer , who between 1879 and his death in 1902 almost 23 years, judges at the Supreme Court of Canada was.

Life

Gwynne, son of William Gwynne and Eliza Nelson, began studying law at Trinity College Dublin after school , but immigrated to Canada in 1832 at the age of eighteen. There he enrolled as a law student at the Law Society of Upper Canada and then completed his studies between 1832 and 1834 with Thomas Kirkpatrick in Kingston in what was then the British colony of Upper Canada . In 1834 he moved to the law firm Hagerman & Draper in Toronto for further training and, after being admitted to the bar in 1837, took up a position as a lawyer . For his legal services he was appointed Crown Counsel (Queen's Counsel) .

In addition to his legal practice Gwynne also worked as an entrepreneur and from 1845 to 1853 sponsor of the railway undertaking Toronto and Guelph Railway Company , which eventually with the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada merged (GTR). In 1868 he was appointed judge at the Court of Common Pleas and three years later in 1871 he was appointed chairman of a commission to investigate the amalgamation of common law , i.e. the predominant legal system in English-speaking countries, which is not only based on laws but also on relevant judicial rulings The past - so-called precedent cases - is supported (case law) and is also trained through judicial interpretation, with the so-called equity , i.e. the rules to supplement the common law to compensate for hardship. After 1874 Judge of the Ontario Court of Error and Appeal was made on January 14, 1879 his appointment as Judge at the Supreme Court of Canada by Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald . Gwynne served on the Supreme Court for nearly 23 years until his death on January 7, 1902.

Web links

• Supreme Court of Canada - Portrait (English)