A message from the Editor in Chief
The Society was established in 1979 to encourage and facilitate the publication of work on the history of Canadian law. As our list of publications demonstrates, we have come a long way since then. We have now published 66 books, in a wide variety of areas, with four more to come in 2007. Our books have ranged from biographies of Supreme Court of Canada judges Bora Laskin, Brian Dickson, Bertha Wilson and Emmett Hall, to historical studies of the law relating to women and ethnic and racial minorities, to histories of courts, the legal profession and legal education. To buy any of our previous books go to Books where you will find the complete list of books, prices and an order form.
Our other principal activity is oral history. The Society carries out what is probably the largest legal oral history programme in the world. We have completed approximately 460 interviews and deposited over 68,000 pages of transcript in the Ontario Archives. (A complete list is available here) Most interviews are open to researchers and are available for use in the Archives. The interviews have been widely used and as times passes they will become an ever more valuable resource for all those interested in Canada's legal past.
The Society carries out a range of related programmes, including support for graduate students doing archival research and financial support for scholarly research in the history of Canadian law.
We are a membership organization, open to all. For more information on becoming a member, and the advantages of doing so (which include receiving the annual members' book at no extra cost) please see our membership page.
The Society is supported by its members, including patrons and sustaining members, and receives an annual grant from the Law Foundation of Ontario. Its offices are in Osgoode Hall, Toronto, and we are pleased to thank the Law Society of Upper Canada for its continuing support.
