Biography

Education

University of Toronto, B.A. 1961; Osgoode Hall Law School, LL.B. 1964 and LL.M. 1966

Professional Qualifications

Calls to the Ontario and Manitoba Bars in 1966 and 1970, respectively.  Q.C., Manitoba, 1985.

Academic Career

All at the Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada: Asst. Prof. 1966-70; Chairman of the Law Admissions Committee, 1967-79 and 1989-2006; Asst. to the Dean, 1969-79; Member, Man. Law School Foundation, 1969-2005, when the Foundation was wound up and Chairman 1996-2005; Assoc. Prof. 1970-74; Professor, 1974-2006; Member, Tenure and Promotions Committee, 1977-82; Director of Legal Research Institute, 1978-79 and 1984-88; Member, Dean’s Search Committee 1979 and 2010; Chairman of the Senate Admissions Appeals Committee, 1979-82; Director of the Archive of Manitoba Legal History, 1979-96; Chairman, Building Committee, 1979-90; Chairman of the Examinations Committee 1989-2000; Chairman of the Bursaries (sub. the Student Affairs) Committee, 1989-2006; University of Manitoba Conciliator, 1990-96; Associate Dean, 1989-2005.  Retired full-time, 2006, Professor Emeritus, continuing part-time, teaching Agency & Partnership and Private International Law, to date.

Other Teaching

Univ. of Manitoba, Continuing Education Division, Law for the Layman, approx. 1968-78; Real Estate Institute of Canada, Real Estate Law, approx. 1968-78; Univ. of Manitoba, Dept. of City Planning, Intro. to Law and Local Gov’t, approx. 1968-97; Univ. of Manitoba, Natural Resource Institute, Natural Resource Administration and Law, approx. 1970-1990; Univ. of Manitoba, Faculty of Admin. Studies, Commercial Law, approx. 1979-89; International Right of Way Assoc. and the Appraisal Institute of Canada, Real Estate Law, from time to time, approx. 1979-90.

News and stories

Selected Publications

Books

  • 1. The Law of Habeas Corpus (Butterworths, 1974).
  • The Law Society of Manitoba, 1877-1977 (Peguis, 1977), general editor, contributor of one chapter, and lengthy appendices.
  • Chief Justice Samuel Freedman, A Great Canadian Judge (1983, Law Soc. of Man.), with Vivian Rachlis.
  • Attorney For the Frontier: Enos Stutsman (1983, Univ. of Man. Press), with Dale and Lee Gibson.
  • Legal Wit and Whimsy, An Anthology of Legal Humour (Carswell, 1988).
  • The Law of Dependants Relief in Canada (Carswell, 1999, 2nd ed. 2006).
  • Agency & Partnership Law Primer (Carswell, 1993, 6th ed. 2024).

Reports (Selected)

  • A Provisional Plan for Greater Winnipeg, Local Government Boundaries Comm., 1970.
  • More than a dozen draft reports for the Manitoba Law Reform Commission, including An Administrative Procedures Act, 1981, which became Report No. 58, and A Millenial Update of the Succession Legislation of Manitoba, 2003, which became Report No. 108.

Articles

  • Statutory Provision for the Enlargement of Limitation Periods, Manitoba (1969) 47 C.B.R. 106.
  • Women in Law in Canada, (1970) 4 Man. L.J. 9.
  • Stationers Will Forms, (1980) 10 Man. L.J. 131.
  • It All Started With Gunner James: Lord Denning, (1983) 17 Law Soc. of U.C. Gazette 279.
  • Concept for a Shrine in Search of a Location, (1984) 18 Law Soc. of U.C. Gazette 66.

The Significance of Punctuation in Statutory Interpretation

Some might say that my singular contribution to legal scholarship is The Significance of Punctuation in Statutory Interpretation, (1971) 4 Man. L.J. 354.  In any event, in addition to the foregoing I have had published a booklet on Municipal Law, 10 casebooks for internal use by students of the Faculty of Law and the Bar Admission Course of the Law Society of Manitoba, 20 reports or briefs for government departments and agencies, over 50 articles and comments and 27 book reviews in various law journals, a few newspaper articles, and more than 240 reasons for judgment of the Manitoba Land Value Appraisal Commission, more than 130 of which are published in the Land Compensation Reports.

Community Involvement

  • Chairman, Civic Service Board of Manitoba, 1969 to its termination during the 1990s.
  • Member of the Local Gov’t Boundaries Commission, 1969-70.
  • Chairman of the Wills and Trust and Municipal Law Subsections, C.B.A., for several years during the 1960s and 1970s.
  • Course Head, Wills and Estate, Law Society of Manitoba Bar Admission Course, 1977-85.
  • Chairman, Land Value Appraisal Commission, 1977-2008 and 2022 to date.
  • President, Manitoba Law Reform Commission, 2006 to 2022.