Osgoode Society Books

Our books are listed here chronologically by date of publication. Use the Search function to the right to find a particular book, or author.

All Books

  • Brian Dickson: A Judge’s Journey

    by Robert Sharpe, Justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario and Professor Kent Roach, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto. Published with the University of Toronto Press, 2003. After coming of age during the Depression on the Prairies, being severely wounded in World War II, and after a career as a successful and prosperous… Read more »

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  • The Law Makers: Judicial Power and the Shaping of Canadian Federalism

    by John T. Saywell, Emeritus Professor of History, York University. Published with University of Toronto Press, 2002. For those who believe that the history of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council’s decisions on the Canadian constitution is an oft-told story, this book will be a revelation indeed. One of Canada’s outstanding scholars, Professor Saywell draws… Read more »

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  • Courted And Abandoned: Seduction In Canadian Law

    by Patrick Brode, Legal Counsel, City of Windsor. Published with the University of Toronto Press, 2002. A pregnancy outside of marriage was a traumatic event in frontier Canada, one that had profound legal implications, not only for the mother, but also for the woman’s family, the alleged father, and for the entire community. Patrick Brode examines… Read more »

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  • Colonial Justice: Justice, Morality and Crime in the Niagara District, 1791-1849

    by David Murray, Department of History, University of Guelph. Published with University of Toronto Press, 2002. As a colony, Upper Canada was obliged to adopt the essential elements of the British legal system. But just how did a system designed for a much more sophisticated society function in the wilds of early Canada? Focussing on the border… Read more »

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  • Canadian State Trials Volume II: Rebellion and Invasion in the Canadas, 1837-1839

    edited by F. Murray Greenwood, Emeritus Professor of History, University of British Columbia and Barry Wright, Professor, Department of Law, Carleton University. Published with the University of Toronto Press, 2002. This second volume of the Canadian State Trials series focuses on the largest state security crisis in 19th century Canada: the rebellions of 1837-1838 and associated… Read more »

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  • Renegade Lawyer: The Life of J.L. Cohen

    by Laurel Sefton Macdowell, Professor of History, University of Toronto. Published with the University of Toronto Press, 2001. J.L. Cohen, one of the first specialists in labour law and an architect of the Canadian industrial relations system, was a formidable advocate in the 1930s and 1940s on behalf of working people. Cohen is best described as… Read more »

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  • Labour Before The Law: The Regulation of Workers’ Collective Action In Canada, 1900-1948

    by Judy Fudge, Landsdowne Professor of Law, University of Victoria and Eric Tucker, Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University. Published with Oxford University Press, 2001. There is now a large volume of literature on Canadian labour history. In this literature, there has been no lack of attention paid to numerous issues involving the legal rights… Read more »

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  • Judging Bertha Wilson: Law As Large As Life

    by Ellen Anderson, Lawyer, Barrie, Ontario. Published with the University of Toronto Press, 2001. Bertha Wilson is the first woman to be appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal. She is the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada at that critical moment when the Charter was entrenched. Nevertheless, Bertha Wilson has… Read more »

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  • Unforeseen Legacies, Reuben Wells Leonard and the Leonard Foundation Trust

    by Bruce Ziff, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Alberta. Published with the University of Toronto Press, 2000. With great skill and diligence, Professor Ziff has taken hold of an apparently narrow topic and has used it to open up a wide window into some fascinating and neglected themes of the Canadian past. His subject is… Read more »

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  • Uncertain Justice: Canadian Women and Capital Punishment 1754-1953

    by F. Murray Greenwood, Emeritus Professor of History, University of British Columbia and Beverley Boissery, Independant Scholar. Published with Dundurn Press, 2000. In recent years, scholars in all disciplines, feminists and traditionalists, have increasingly recognized how significant issues of gender are in understanding most aspects of the human condition. Indeed gender as a category of analysis… Read more »

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