Sir Walter Gibson Pringle Cassels (14 August 1845 – 1 March 1923) was a Canadian lawyer and judge. He was the first President of the

Exchequer Court of Canada In the civil service of the United Kingdom, His Majesty’s Exchequer, or just the Exchequer, is the accounting process of central government and the government's '' current account'' (i.e., money held from taxation and other government reve ...

from 1920 until his death in 1923.

Biography

Cassels was born in

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

, the son of the banker and businessman Robert Cassels. He was educated at

Quebec High School Quebec High School (QHS) is a high school belonging to the Central Quebec School Board. The School is located in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, and is one of three English-language high schools that serve the Quebec city region (the others being S ...

and the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, graduating with a BA in 1865. He 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 ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

in 1869, and practiced at Blake, Lash, Cassels. He became 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 1883. Cassels was appointed a judge of the

in 1908 (his brother Robert, as Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1875 to 1898, had been the Exchequer Court's first registrar). He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1917. In 1920, he became the Court's first President when the position was established. As a judge of the Exchequer Court, he was on occasion to sit as an ''ad hoc'' judge in 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 ...

, which he did thirty-three times from 1918 to 1922. He died in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

in 1923.

Cassels Lake Cassels Lake (originally known as White Bear Lake) is a lake located within the Municipality of Temagami, in the Nipissing District, Ontario, Canada. It contains numerous portages, campsites and is one of three lakes on the eastern edge of the Wh ...

Temagami Temagami, formerly spelled as Timagami, is a municipality in northeastern Ontario, Canada, in the Nipissing District with Lake Temagami at its heart. The Temagami region is known as ''n'Daki Menan'', the homeland of the area's First Nations commu ...

, Ontario is named in his honour.

Arms

References

* Ian Bushnell, ''The Federal Court of Canada: A History, 1875-1992''. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cassels, Walter 1845 births 1923 deaths People from Quebec City University of Toronto alumni Canadian King's Counsel Judges of the Exchequer Court of Canada Canadian Knights Bachelor