Mary Frances Southin (born 1931) is a retired Canadian judge. She was the first woman to become a Queen's Counsel in British Columbia, to be elected a Bencher of the

Law Society of British Columbia The Law Society of British Columbia is the regulatory body for lawyers in British Columbia, Canada. Purpose The society's primary mandate under the ''Legal Profession Act'' is to uphold and protect the public interest in the administration of ...

, and to be a head of a law society in the Commonwealth. She was a Justice of the

British Columbia Court of Appeal The British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) is the highest appellate court in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It was established in 1910 following the 1907 Court of Appeal Act. The BCCA hears appeals from the Supreme Court of Britis ...

from 1988 to 2006.

Biography

Legal and political career

Born in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Southin graduated from the

University of British Columbia Faculty of Law , mottoeng = Let justice be done though the heavens fall , type = Public Law School , endowment = , head_label = Dean , head = Ngai Pindell , established = , city = Vancouver , state = Br ...

in 1952 and was

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 ...

in British Columbia in 1953. She practiced in Vancouver at the firm of Shulman, Foulkes and Tupper, with a broad litigation practice. She was appointed a

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 1969, the first woman so appointed in British Columbia. She ran for the

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada) was a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003. From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the ...

in the

1963 Canadian federal election The 1963 Canadian federal election was held on April 8, 1963 to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 26th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of the minority Progressive Conservative (Tory) government of Prime Mini ...

Coast—Capilano Coast—Capilano was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1949 to 1968. This riding was created in 1947 from parts of Vancouver North riding. The riding consiste ...

and in the

1965 Canadian federal election The 1965 Canadian federal election was held on November 8, 1965 to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 27th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson was re-elected with a larger number of seat ...

Vancouver South Vancouver South (french: Vancouver-Sud) is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1917 to 1997, and since 2004. It covers the southern portion of the city of Va ...

, losing both times. A self-described "

red Tory A Red Tory is an adherent of a centre to centre-right or paternalistic-conservative political philosophy derived from the Tory tradition, most predominantly in Canada but also in the United Kingdom and Australia. This philosophy tends to favour ...

", she was also a member of the executive of the Progressive Conservative Party. She was elected a bencher of the

in 1977, the first woman bencher in British Columbia; she subsequently became Treasurer of the Law Society in 1977, the first woman head of a law society in the Commonwealth.

Judicial career

Southin was appointed to the

Supreme Court of British Columbia Supreme may refer to: Entertainment * Supreme (character), a comic book superhero * ''Supreme'' (film), a 2016 Telugu film * Supreme (producer), hip-hop record producer * "Supreme" (song), a 2000 song by Robbie Williams * The Supremes, Motown-e ...

in 1985. She was appointed to the

in 1988. She retired in 2006 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age under the Judges Act. In 2003 she was the target of a

Canadian Judicial Council The Canadian Judicial Council (CJC; french: Conseil canadien de la magistrature) is the national council of the judiciary of Canada, overseeing the country's federal judges. The Council has 41 members, composed of chief justices and associate chi ...

investigation, following a complaint that she had brought the administration of justice into disrepute by continuing to smoke in her chambers and by convincing the

Attorney General of British Columbia The attorney general of British Columbia (AG) oversees the Ministry of Attorney General, a provincial government department responsible for the oversight of the justice system, within the province of British Columbia, Canada. The attorney general ...

to install a ventilation system in her chambers: she had threatened to resign from the bench unless she was allowed to continue smoking in chambers. The complaint was dismissed for want of evidence that any misconduct had occurred. The

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

Allard School of Law and the

University of Victoria Faculty of Law The University of Victoria Faculty of Law is a law school at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The school grants JD, JID, LLM, and PhD degrees in law. Reputation The school was consistently ranked as one of the ...

host an annual lecture series on

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and

legal history Legal history or the history of law is the study of how law has evolved and why it has changed. Legal history is closely connected to the development of civilisations and operates in the wider context of social history. Certain jurists and histo ...

in her honour.

Personality and views

As a judge, Southin was described as "Prodigiously learned in the law and "well known for her vast knowledge, her strong opinions, and her insistence on precision and proper form in the court." She also insisted on high sartorial standards by lawyers. Although responsible for many legal firsts as a woman, Southin insists on being referred to as

Miss Miss (pronounced ) is an English language honorific typically used for a girl, for an unmarried woman (when not using another title such as "Doctor" or "Dame"), or for a married woman retaining her maiden name. Originating in the 17th century, it ...

. A Canadian scholar reported that when she interviewed Southin in 1980 about sexual harassment in the legal profession, the then-lawyer "objected to the very topic." In 1978, she was attacked by some feminists when she was retained to defend Les Bewley, a judge on the

Provincial Court of British Columbia The Provincial Court of British Columbia (BC Provincial Court) is a trial level court in British Columbia that hears cases in criminal, civil and family matters. The Provincial Court is a creation of statute, and as such its jurisdiction is lim ...

, who had made sexist jokes during a trial. A critic of the ''

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part o ...

'' when it was enacted, Southin wrote that "Anyone but a cretin has known for years that a charter of rights would bring political questions into the courts" and described the Charter as "a piece of Liberal silliness we could well have done without". In 2003, she said she said she would like to repeal the ''Charter'', saying that it impeded the search for truth in trials.

Notable decisions

In '' Girardet v. Crease & Co.'' (1987) 11 B.C.L.R. (2d) 361, 362, she wrote:

"The word 'fiduciary' is flung around now as if it applied to all breaches of duty by solicitors, directors of companies and so forth. . . . That a lawyer can commit a breach of the special duty f a fiduciary. . . by entering into a contract with the client without full disclosure . . . and so forth is clear. But to say that simple carelessness in giving advice is such a breach is a perversion of words."

The passage was approved by La Forest J. in '' Lac Minerals Ltd. v. International Corona Resources Ltd.'' (1989) 61 D.L.R. (4th) 14, 28 and by

Millett LJ Peter Julian Millett, Baron Millett, , (23 June 1932 – 27 May 2021) was a British barrister and judge. He was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1998 to 2004. Biography Early life The son of Denis and Adele Millett, he was educated at Har ...

(as he then was) in the English Court of Appeal in ''Mothew v Bristol & West Building Society''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Southin, Mary 1931 births Living people Canadian King's Counsel Lawyers in British Columbia Peter A. Allard School of Law alumni Judges in British Columbia People from Vancouver Progressive Conservative Party of Canada candidates for the Canadian House of Commons