Lyman Duff

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir Lyman Duff
Chief Justice of Canada
In office March 17, 1933 – January 2, 1944
Preceded by	Francis Anglin
Succeeded by	Thibaudeau Rinfret
Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
In office September 27, 1906 – March 17, 1933
Preceded by	Robert Sedgewick
Succeeded by	Frank Hughes
Born	January 7, 1865(1865-01-07) Meaford, Ontario
Died	April 26, 1955 (aged 90)

Sir Lyman Poore Duff, PC, GCMG (Ontario, January 7, 1865 – April 26, 1955) was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and briefly served as Acting Governor General of Canada in 1931 and 1940.

Bust of the Rt. Hon. Sir Lyman Duff in the Supreme Court of Canada building.

Born in Meaford, Ontario to a Congregationalist minister, he received a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and metaphysics in 1887 and a Bachelor of Law in 1889 from the University of Toronto. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1893. In 1901, he was created a Queen's Counsel. From 1890 to 1895, he was a teacher of math at Barrie Collegiate Institute. He was a lawyer in Fergus, Ontario and moved to Victoria, British Columbia in 1895 to practise law.

In 1904, he was appointed a puisne judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. In 1906 was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. He was appointed chief justice of Canada in 1933 and retired in 1944.

In 1931, he served as Administrator of the Government of Canada between the departure of Lord Bessborough for India and the arrival of Lord Tweedsmuir. Duff took on the position as the Chief Justice was unavailable. In 1933, Duff he was promoted to Chief Justice. He was knighted the following year as a result of Prime Minister Richard Bennett's temporary suspension of the Nickel Resolution.

When Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir died in office on February 11, 1940, according to the rules of succession, Chief Justice Duff became acting Governor General. He held the office for nearly four months, until Britain appointed a new Governor General on June 21, 1940. Duff was the first Canadian to hold the position, even in the interim. A Canadian Governor General was not appointed until Vincent Massey in 1952.

Sir Lyman Duff poses with his bust at its official unveiling, Sept. 5, 1947. In photo: (L.-R.:) J.L. Ilsley, J.C. McRuer, Sir Lyman Duff, John T. Hackett, K.C., W.L. Mackenzie King, Thibaudeau Rinfret.

[edit] Further reading

• Williams, David Ricardo (1984). Duff: A Life In The Law. University of British Columbia Press. ISBN 0-7748-0203-0. 

[edit] References

• Lyman Poore Duff fonds

[edit] External links

• Official Supreme Court biography