Patrick James Nolan (March 3, 1862 in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

– February 10, 1913 in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,30 ...

) was an early Canadian 'frontier' lawyer, whose fame as "the greatest wit in the west" has led to stories and legends in Canadian folklore about his

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 ...

practice in Calgary. Nolan moved to Calgary in 1889, and located his office above 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 ...

'' printing house, which led to his friendship with journalist

Norman Luxton Norman K. Luxton (November 2, 1876 – October 26, 1962) was a pioneer in the Canadian Rockies known as "Mr. Banff". With John Voss, he attempted to sail around the world in an old red cedar Indian dug-out canoe. On his return to Canada, he wo ...

. He was widely known as a hard-drinking lawyer with a sharp wit and a skill for defending the underprivileged class of society. Some of his clients included Caroline Fulham. He had an enduring friendship with the legendary journalist Bob Edwards, founder of the Eye-Opener. A well-known tale recounts how Nolan's physical resemblance to

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Thomas Mayne Daly Thomas Mayne Daly, (August 16, 1852 – June 24, 1911) was a Canadian politician. Born in Stratford, Canada West (now Ontario), the son of Thomas Mayne Daly (1827–1885) and Helen McLaren (Ferguson) Daly, his father was a member of ...

often led to the two being confused for each other. Once, after Daly had jokingly angered a legal client of Nolan's by impersonating the lawyer, Nolan got his revenge by refusing to grant a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

to a prospective homesteader, insisting that the Ministry of the Interior would require a

bribe Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corr ...

in order to look at his file - leading to Daly sending Nolan a note several days later about the "bad name" that the Ministry was getting due to his hijinx. In 1894, Nolan and his wife Mary Elizabeth Lee had a son,

Henry Grattan Nolan Henry Grattan Nolan, (May 5, 1893 – July 8, 1957) was a Canadian lawyer and jurist. He was the first Albertan appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Biography Nolan was born in Calgary, Northwest Territories (now in Alberta), the s ...

, who would later go on to serve as Canada's judge on the 1945-1948

International Military Tribunal for the Far East The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE), also known as the Tokyo Trial or the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, was a military trial convened on April 29, 1946 to try leaders of the Empire of Japan for crimes against peace, conven ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and who was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1956.

References

Further reading