George Wheelock Burbidge (6 February 1847 – 18 February 1908) was a Canadian lawyer, judge and author. After being

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

in 1872, he became a partner in the

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...

law firm of Harrison and Burbidge. In 1882, Burbidge was appointed federal Deputy Minister of Justice. He is noted for having conducted the prosecution of

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of Canada and its first ...

during his trial for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

following the

North-West Rebellion The North-West Rebellion (french: Rébellion du Nord-Ouest), also known as the North-West Resistance, was a resistance by the Métis people under Louis Riel and an associated uprising by First Nations Cree and Assiniboine of the District of S ...

of 1885. In October 1887, he subsequently became the first justice of the Exchequer Court, the predecessor to the modern

Federal Court of Canada The Federal Court of Canada, which succeeded the Exchequer Court of Canada in 1971, was a national court of Canada that had limited jurisdiction to hear certain types of disputes arising under the federal government's legislative jurisdiction. ...

. Two of his rulings that are considered especially important :* ''Samson v. The Queen'', (1888) 2 Ex. C.R. 30 (concerning the value of land expropriated by the Crown) :* ''St. John Gas Light Co. v. The Queen'', (1895) 4 Ex. C. R. 326 (one of the first judicial pronouncements on

environmental pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, th ...

) Burbidge was also active in community affairs. Elected president of the Associated Charities of Ottawa in 1895, he helped found the Victorian Order of Nurses in 1897 and succeeded Lady Aberdeen arjoribanks*as president, serving from 1899 until his death. In his early years as a judge, he published ''A Digest of the Criminal Law of Canada'', which heavily influenced the groundbreaking

Criminal Code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that might ...

, enacted by the federal Parliament in 1892.''Criminal Code, 1892'', SC 1892, c 29.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burbidge, George Wheelock 1847 births Lawyers in New Brunswick Judges of the Exchequer Court of Canada 1908 deaths