Morris Jacob Fish, (born November 16, 1938) 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 ...

of the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

from 2003 to 2013. Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, the son of Aaron S. Fish and Zlata Grober, he received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(with distinction) in 1959 and a

Bachelor of Law Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

(first class honours) in 1962 from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

(where he was selected as the Articles Editor for the ''

McGill Law Journal The ''McGill Law Journal'' is a student-run legal publication at McGill University Faculty of Law in Montreal. It is a not-for-profit corporation independent of the Faculty and it is managed exclusively by students. The ''Journal'' also publishes t ...

''). Upon graduation from law school, he was awarded the Greenshields Prize, the Crankshaw Prize for Highest Standing in Criminal Law and the Macdonald Travelling Scholarship. He practiced law mostly in

for the law firm Cohen, Leithman, Kaufman, Yarosky & Fish which later became Yarosky, Fish, Zigman, Isaacs & Daviault between 1967 and 1989. He also lectured at a number of Canadian law schools. His expertise in practice and teaching was

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law i ...

. He was appointed to the

Quebec Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of Quebec (sometimes referred to as Quebec Court of Appeal or QCA) (in French: ''la Cour d'appel du Québec'') is the highest judicial court in Quebec, Canada. It hears cases in Quebec City and Montreal. History The Court wa ...

on June 30, 1989 and was elevated to the Supreme Court of Canada on August 5, 2003, replacing

Charles Gonthier Charles Doherty Gonthier, (August 1, 1928 – July 16, 2009) was a Puisne judge on the Supreme Court of Canada from February 1, 1989 to August 1, 2003. He was replaced by Morris Fish. Early life Gonthier was born in Montreal, Quebec to Ge ...

. He retired from the Court on August 31, 2013.

Awards

* 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 ...

, 1984 *

Honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

s from: **

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universit ...

, 2009 **

, 2001 * G. Arthur Martin medal for outstanding contribution to criminal justice, 2011 * Invested as a companion of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

, 2016

References

External links

Supreme Court of Canada biography
1938 births Living people Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada Lawyers from Montreal Anglophone Quebec people McGill University Faculty of Law alumni Companions of the Order of Canada Canadian King's Counsel Jews from Quebec {{Canada-law-bio-stub

Awards

See also

References

External links