James Herbert "Herb" Laycraft, (January 5, 1924 – August 5, 2015) was a

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

in the Canadian province of Alberta. Born in

Veteran, Alberta Veteran is a village in central Alberta, Canada. It is located on Alberta Highway 12, Highway 12 approximately east of the City of Red Deer, Alberta, Red Deer. Consort, Alberta, Consort is approximately to the east, while Coronation, Alberta, Co ...

, he is a veteran of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, serving with the

Royal Canadian Artillery , colors = The guns of the RCA themselves , colors_label = Colours , march = * Slow march: "Royal Artillery Slow March" * Quick march (dismounted parades): "British Grenadiers/The ...

in Australia. Laycraft was admitted to the Alberta bar in 1952 after attending the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

. Appointed

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1963 and to the bench in 1975, Laycraft was Chief Justice of the Alberta Court of Appeal from 1985 to December 31, 1991, when he retired. He died on August 5, 2015, aged 91. ''

The Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The C ...

'' opined, "It’s hard to fathom how different the legal profession might be today for Albertans and the rest of Canadians, for that matter, if not for the gigantic footprints left behind by James Herbert (Herb) Laycraft over a momentous four-decade career as a litigator and judge."

References

1924 births 2015 deaths Judges in Alberta Canadian King's Counsel {{Canada-law-bio-stub