The Osgoode Society was incorporated in May of 1979. In 1993 it became the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History. Founded at the initiative of R. Roy McMurtry, a former attorney general for Ontario and a former chief justice of Ontario, and officials of the Law Society of Upper Canada, its purpose is to study and promote public interest in the history of the law, the legal profession and the judiciary in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada and to stimulate research and publication on these subjects.

Among the society's activities are its publications programme, an oral history programme, a research support programme to assist scholars doing research in Canadian legal history, and work in the field of legal records and archives. The society's intention is that its annual publication will be funded by membership fees. The continuation of related efforts will depend primarily on strong support from the Law Foundation of Ontario and from patrons, benefactors and sustaining members.