by Elise Brunet, Curator
The Act that created the
Law Society of Upper Canada in 1797 authorized lawyers to regulate themselves.
The proponents of the Society wanted to protect the turf of local practitioners
and ensure that the people of Upper Canada (now Ontario) would be served by
a learned and honourable body” of lawyers.1 By creating the Law Society the provincial government was delegating a responsibility
that usually laid with the Chief Justice, at least in the British colonies.
Members of the bar regulated themselves in England through the Inns of Court,
but their authority to train prospective lawyers, call them to the bar and
discipline them had evolved over centuries. To legislate such an organization
into existence was unheard of and the Law Society of Upper Canada stood alone
until the mid-nineteenth century.2
Despite
its unconventional beginnings the Law Society strove to emulate its British
counterparts. Not only was it to perform similar functions but it adopted
a number of the traditions of the Inns. In the fall of 1820, the Law Society
resolved to build its own “Inn.” It too would accommodate the offices
of the organization, house its library and provide chambers for law students
and lawyers. It would give respectability to the profession. The Law Society’s
inn, at the corner of King and Church street in Toronto,3 would be named Osgoode Hall.
The sum of £500
was allocated for the project. Attorney General and Law Society Bencher John
Beverley Robinson and Treasurer William Warren Baldwin were to procure plans
and estimates for the building.4 Nothing much
seems to have come out of this initiative. In July 1825 a new committee regarding
the accommodation of the Society was created. This committee was to apply
to the government for a grant of land or, if the Society was turned down,
to receive offers of sale from private individuals.5 On November 18th of that year, Treasurer Baldwin was asked by Convocation
to draft a statement to be sent to the judges of the Court of King’s Bench.
The document was to inform them of the Society’s intention of appropriating
£2000 for Osgoode Hall and “its disposition to accommodate the Court
of Kings [sic] Bench with all necessary appointments according with the importance
and dignity of its functions.” The Law Society was inviting the Courts to
move in with the hope that the government would contribute to the cost of
construction. The combined funds would afford the erection of a building worthy
of the capital of the province.6
The Court must have endorsed
the proposal: the Law Society forwarded its request to Lieutenant Governor
Maitland in April 1826. The government had announced its decision to abandon
the site of the old parliament building and the Law Society suggested the
plot as an appropriate location for its Inn. In June, the Lieutenant Governor,
favourable to the plan, forwarded both the application of the Law Society
and a petition from the judges to the Executive Council. The Council proposed
to grant the Law Society six acres on the late Legislative Buildings site
with an additional three acres to be set aside for the Court of King’s Bench.7
The Law Society seemed
satisfied with the grant8 and proceeded to
study plans of the proposed building. Curiously, in January 1827, the Law
Society recanted and rejected the grant on grounds that it was insufficient
for their needs. Perhaps they hoped to take advantage of the positive disposition
towards their request to increase their demands. The Executive Council denied
the petition.9 Apparently unaware of the rejection,
the Law Society grew impatient. In November, it suspended its application
and looked into requesting land at Russell Square near the proposed site of
the new parliament buildings. The original application was renewed in January
1828 but on April 30 the Law Society started looking at private land.10 Had they given up hope of receiving a positive answer from the government
or did they reconsider building in an unfashionable part of town?11 Perhaps the benchers of the Society, many of whom were also members of the
government, preferred a location closer to the future Parliament buildings
at Simcoe Place?12
Within two days the Law
Society considered property offered by one Andrew Mercer but elected to purchase
six acres from Attorney General Robinson for the sum of £1000. The deed,
dated June 17, says nothing of the £1000. Instead, the contract mentions
a “consideration” of five shillings and a one year rent of “one ear of Indian
corn.” The five shillings were obviously symbolic and were put in to validate
the contract. Presumably both parties wanted to keep silent about the deal.
Robinson sold other portions of the lot to King’s College the next year and
he may have wanted the details of the sale to the Society to remain confidential.
The one year rental of the property is puzzling. There is no mention of it
in the Minutes. Possibly the Law Society needed time to assemble the funds
for the purchase.13
Robinson’s role in the
whole transaction is intriguing. Since he made a handsome profit on the sale
some argue that he capitalized on his privileged position.14 As Attorney General and a Bencher of the Law Society, he had a foot in both
camps. He was the one who moved that the Law Society turn down the Executive
Council’s original grant of 6 acres, only to sell them the same acreage (less
if one counts the three acres allotted to the courts).15 On the other hand, even if Robinson was a political adversary of Treasurer
Baldwin, he shared with him the vision of the Law Society as the cradle of
future lawyers. Robinson was extremely active in Law Society affairs and he
was on virtually every committee dealing with the construction of Osgoode
Hall. He was the one who suggested that the Law Society apply to the government
for land in the first place. He was probably counting on his influence on
the Lieutenant Governor when he made the suggestion.16 Granted that he benefited from the sale. However, when the benchers of Law
Society unanimously decided to purchase the plot they would have been aware
of land values in Toronto, which were climbing quickly. Between 1827 and 1830,
York’s population had grown by 58%.17 In
addition, the Society was getting a choice portion of the lot, fronting Lot
Street which was rapidly being developed.
It is possible that the
Benchers had a less prosaic reason for wanting that particular piece of land.
Archdeacon Strachan had obtained the Charter for King’s College in 1827. One
of his ambitions for the College was the creation of a law school. The building
of Osgoode Hall, whose main purpose was the accommodation of students, strengthened
the Law Society’s claim for the control of legal education.18 The irony of having Osgoode Hall at the foot of the property sold to the College
a few months later may not have been lost on the Law Society.19 Construction of Osgoode Hall started in the summer of 1829. The building proved
a drain on the Society’s finances. In 1830 rumbles about disposing of Osgoode
Hall compelled the Society’s board of directors to pass a rule declaring of
the yet unfinished building the permanent seat of the organization.20
The Court of King’s Bench,
headed by now Chief Justice John Beverley Robinson, was still eager to share
accommodation with the Law Society. The judges moved in temporarily but were
ordered into the new Parliament buildings by the Governor. The superior courts
finally joined the Law Society on lot 11 in 1846, first as tenants then, starting
in 1874, as owners of the western portion of the building. Since then, Osgoode
Hall has been expanding periodically to meet the needs of its owners. Set
in its broad, inviting lawns, surrounded by its remarkable fence, this architectural
gem, the hub of legal life in Ontario, provides an oasis in modern downtown
Toronto.
Notes
1.
Many early lawyers in the province had limited legal education. They feared
that an influx of better trained barristers from England may threaten their
livelihood. See Moore, Christopher. The Law Society of Upper Canada and
Ontario's Lawyers, 1797-1997. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997,
30. for more on the subject.
2.
ibid, 16.
3.
In 1820 the Law Society owned land at the corner of King and Church streets
and was planning on building Osgoode Hall at that location. There is no record
of the purchase or the sale of this property in the Minutes of the Law Society’s
board of governors meetings. Since the Law Society was only incorporated in
1822, the deed would not have been in its name.
4.
The Law Society of Upper Canada Archives, Series 1-01, Convocation, Minutes
of Convocation, First day of Michaelmas Term, 1 Geo. IV.
5.
ibid, July 1st, 1825.
6.
ibid, November 18th, 1825.
7.
ibid, April 29, 1826. Minutes of the Executive Council for June 8, 1826.
8.
The Minutes of Convocation do not specify the date at which the decision was
communicated to the Law Society. However, at least one member of the Council
was also a Law Society Bencher. One would expect that the Society would have
been apprised of the Council’s decision soon after it was made.
9.
The Law Society of Upper Canada Archives, Series 1-01, Convocation, Minutes
of Convocation, January 9, 1827. Minutes of the Executive Council, June 7,
1827.
10.
ibid, April 30, 1828.
11.
“...the Legislature in selecting Simcoe Place for the scite [sic] of a Parliament
House were doubtless influenced by the inconvenience and unhealthiness of
the former situation.” Petition of Inhabitants of York 1830 [PAC, Upper Canada
Sundries, v.98] quoted in Firth, Edith G. The Town of York, 1815-1834.
Toronto: The University of Toronto Press, 1966, 30.
12.
There is at least one example of the benchers’ meeting being moved to the
Chambers of the House of Assembly to accommodate “... those Gentlemen Benchers
whose public duty compels their attendance there.” The Law Society of Upper
Canada Archives, Series 1-01, Convocation, Minutes of Convocation, November
12, 1825.
13.
I could not have understood the intricacies of the transaction without the
great knowledge of law and of the Society’s history of John D. Honsberger
QC, LSM.
14.
Robinson purchased 50 acres of Lot 11 for £1000 four months after the
Law Society started looking for land. The price of £1000 for six acres
represents a 800% increase in value in less than 3 years.
15.
Brode, Patrick. Sir John Beverley Robinson: Bone and Sinew of the Compact. Toronto: The Osgoode Society, 1984, 166-167.
16. Dictionary of Canadian Biography. vol. IX. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1976, 672.
17.
Armstrong, Frederick, H. Handbook of Canadian Chronology. Revised edition.
Toronto and London: Dundurn Press, 1985, 275.
18.
Moore, Christopher. The Law Society of Upper Canada and Ontario's Lawyers,
1797-1997. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997, 79.
19.
John D. Honsberger QC, LSM brought this hypothesis to my attention.
20.
The Law Society of Upper Canada Archives, Series 1-01, Convocation, Minutes
of Convocation, November 8, 1830.