The Hon. Arthur Klein

This interview with Chief Judge Arthur Otto Klein (1909-) provides a comprehensive overview of his distinguished legal career spanning from the 1930s to the 1970s. Born in Walkerton to a family of German immigrants, Klein followed his father’s footsteps into law, graduating from Osgoode Hall in 1933 during the Great Depression. After articling with several Toronto firms and briefly practicing with his father, he joined the Attorney General’s Department in 1936 under Arthur Roebuck during Mitch Hepburn’s Liberal government, initially working on corporate tax arrears.

Klein’s career is particularly notable for his prosecution of major criminal cases, including the Vaillancourt case (the last person sentenced to be hanged in Canada before capital punishment was abolished), the Fisher case (which established important legal precedent on hypothetical evidence by medical experts), and the Boyd Gang prosecutions in 1952. He served as Deputy Crown Attorney before being appointed Chief Magistrate of Ontario in 1964, where he played a crucial role in court administration and the transition from Magistrates Court to Provincial Court in 1968. Concurrently, he served as Metro Toronto Police Commissioner from 1964-1968, demonstrating his broad influence in Ontario’s justice system during a period of significant legal and administrative reform.

This description was written by AI and may contain some inaccuracies.