Roland Almon Ritchie, (June 19, 1910 – June 5, 1988) was a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
and
puisne justice
A puisne judge or puisne justice (; from french: puisné or ; , 'since, later' + , 'born', i.e. 'junior') is a dated term for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. Use
The term is used almost exclusively in common law ...
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 ...
.
Early life and family
Born in
Halifax,
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) 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. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
, the son of William Bruce Almon Ritchie and Lillian Stewart,
Ritchie was a scion of prominent families — the Almons, Ritchies, and Stewarts were all major families in Nova Scotia. Ritchie's great-uncle,
Sir William Johnstone Ritchie, had also been on the Supreme Court, serving as a puisne justice and then as the second
Chief Justice of Canada
The chief justice of Canada (french: juge en chef du Canada) is the presiding judge of the nine-member Supreme Court of Canada, the highest judicial body in Canada. As such, the chief justice is the highest-ranking judge of the Canadian court sy ...
. His brother,
Charles Ritchie was an important Canadian diplomat and diarist.
Education
Ritchie 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 ...
degree from the
University of King's College
The University of King's College, established in 1789, is in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.Roper, Henry. "Aspects of the History of a Loyalist College: King's College, Windsor, and Nova Scotian Higher Education in the Nineteenth Century." Anglic ...
, Halifax, in 1930. He then received a
Rhodes scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.
Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...
and read law at
Pembroke College,
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, receiving an additional Bachelor of Arts degree, in law, in 1932.
Military career
Ritchie was called to the
Nova Scotia Bar in 1934, but his law practice was interrupted by
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 ...
. He joined 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 ...
,
[Illness forces Ritchie to retire from Supreme Court]
" ''Montreal Gazette'', November 2, 1984. and eventually served as Assistant Deputy Judge Advocate with the
Third Canadian Division from 1941 to 1944.
Legal career
After the war he helped found the law firm, Daley, Phinney & Ritchie. He was a lecturer on insurance law at
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...
, and acted as counsel to the royal commission on the terms of
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
's union with
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
in 1949.
Supreme Court of Canada
In 1959, without any previous judicial experience, Ritchie was appointed by the
Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...
government to replace
Ivan Rand
Ivan Cleveland Rand (April 27, 1884 – January 2, 1969) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, academic, and justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. He has been described as 'probably the greatest judge in Canada's history'.
Early life and ca ...
on the Supreme Court of Canada.
Ritchie's judgements were typically conservative, which often put him on side with
Ronald Martland
Ronald Martland, (February 10, 1907 – November 20, 1997) was a Canadian lawyer and Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. He was the second Albertan appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, taking the place of Justice Nolan, who di ...
and
Wilfred Judson. He is best known for a pair of conflicting decisions concerning the ''
Canadian Bill of Rights
The ''Canadian Bill of Rights'' (french: Déclaration canadienne des droits) is a federal statute and bill of rights enacted by the Parliament of Canada on August 10, 1960. It provides Canadians with certain rights at Canadian federal law in rel ...
'': ''
R. v. Drybones ''R v Drybones'', 970S.C.R. 282, is a landmark 6-3 Supreme Court of Canada decision holding that the '' Canadian Bill of Rights'' "empowered the courts to strike down federal legislation which offended its dictates." Accordingly, the Supreme Court ...
'' and ''
Attorney General of Canada v. Lavell''. In ''Drybones'', Ritchie wrote the majority decision for the Court, holding that a provision of the ''Indian Act'' was inoperative because it conflicted with the ''Canadian Bill of Rights''. However, in ''Lavell'', Ritchie wrote the majority decision holding that a federal statute such as the ''Indian Act'' could not be held inoperative because of the Bill of Rights.
One of his most significant dissents, co-authored with
Justice Martland, was in the
Patriation Reference
''Reference Re Resolution to amend the Constitution'' – also known as the Patriation Reference – is a historic Supreme Court of Canada reference case that occurred during negotiations for the patriation of the Constitution of Canada.
...
, where they argued that as a matter of constitutional law, the federal Parliament did not have the authority to unilaterally request that the British Parliament enact the proposed patriation constitutional amendments.
[Noel Lyon, "Constitutional Theory and the Martland-Ritchie Dissent" (1981) 7 Queen's L.J. 344.] Although in dissent on the legal issue, Martland and Ritchie were in the majority on the second issue in the Reference, the existence of a constitutional convention which required a significant degree of provincial support for major constitutional amendments.
Later life and death
He served on the Court until his retirement in 1984. He retired due to poor health at age 74, a year before the mandatory retirement age of 75.
In 1985 he was made 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 ...
. From 1974 to 1988, he was the Chancellor of the
University of King's College
The University of King's College, established in 1789, is in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.Roper, Henry. "Aspects of the History of a Loyalist College: King's College, Windsor, and Nova Scotian Higher Education in the Nineteenth Century." Anglic ...
.
References
External links
Supreme Court of Canada biographyOrder of Canada Citation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Roland
Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada
Canadian university and college chancellors
University of King's College alumni
Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford
Lawyers in Nova Scotia
Canadian Army officers
Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery personnel
Companions of the Order of Canada
People from Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canadian Anglicans
Canadian people of Scottish descent
1910 births
1988 deaths
Canadian Army personnel of World War II