Robert Smith (judge)

Robert Smith (December 7, 1858 – March 18, 1942) was a Canadian lawyer, politician and Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Robert Smith
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Stormont
In office
1908–1911
Preceded byRobert Abercrombie Pringle
Succeeded byDuncan Orestes Alguire
Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
In office
1927–1933
Nominated byWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King
Preceded byNone (new position)
Succeeded byHenry Hague Davis
Personal details
Born(1858-12-07)December 7, 1858
Ramsay Township, Canada West
DiedMarch 18, 1942(1942-03-18) (aged 83)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Political partyLiberal
ChildrenArnold Neilson Smith

Born in Lanark County, Canada West (now Ontario), the son of William Smith and Jean Neilson, he was educated in Almonte and at Osgoode Hall.[1] He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1885. He then practiced law in Cornwall, Ontario.

In 1888, Smith married Florence Parker Pettit.[1]

In 1904, he ran for the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal in the riding of Stormont, Ontario. He lost but won in 1908. He did not run for re-election.[2]

In 1908, Smith was named King's Counsel. Smith was a director and secretary-treasurer for the Montreal and Cornwall Navigation Company. He served as lieutenant-colonel in the militia.[1]

In 1922, he was appointed to the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Ontario and then to the Appellate Division. In 1926, he sat on the Supreme Court as an ad hoc judge and was appointed as a judge in 1927. He retired in 1933.

For reasons unknown, the federal government took over a year to appoint a replacement for Justice Smith, eventually appointing Henry Hague Davis in 1935.[3]

Smith died in Ottawa at the age of 83.[1]

References
  1. Johnson, J.K. (1968). The Canadian Directory of Parliament 1867-1967. Public Archives of Canada.
  2. Robert Smith – Parliament of Canada biography
  3. James G. Snell; Frederick Vaughan (1985). The Supreme Court of Canada: History of the Institution. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0802034179., p. 148.
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