Walter Harley Trueman (May 23, 1870 – February 24, 1951) was a lawyer and a judge in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

He was born in Saint John, New Brunswick and was educated at St-John Grammar School (now Saint John High School). He took his law degree 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 ...

in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was one of the editors of the University Gazette and class Valedictorian. He articled with the firm of Hannington and Wilson of Saint John before moving into private practice. He lectured at Kings College Law School in

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

. He was an associate of The Honorable George Blair, Attorney General of New Brunswick and Minister of Railways in the Cabinet of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He was Official Reporter, New Brunswick Supreme Court in Equity Reports, 1895–1898. He married Lillian Wade (1876-1951) and had two children, Dorothy Wade and Kenneth Rankine. (The latter would marry Inez Geneva Trueman.) In 1908, he moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he continued to practice law. In 1915, he drafted the Referendum and Initiative Act, which would have made popular plebiscites legal. The act would be referred to the Court of King's Bench for a ruling on whether the Government of Manitoba had jurisdiction to enact such an act. It was subsequently decided that the government had such authority. However, the Manitoba Court of Appeal would subsequently overrule the lower court's decision. The matter was taken directly to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

on special leave, bypassing the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, where it was held in 1919 that the Manitoba government had no such right. In 1916, he was made

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

. Following the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919, he defended William Ivens and John Queen, two leading figures in the strike who were accused of seditious libel and conspiracy. In his jury address, he is reported to have said "you cannot indict ideas". Both men would be convicted in 1920. In 1923, he was appointed to the

Manitoba Court of Appeal The Manitoba Court of Appeal (french: Cour d'appel du Manitoba) is the court of appeal in, and the highest court of, the Canadian province of Manitoba. It hears criminal, civil, and family law cases, as well as appeals from various administrative ...

by Sir William Lyon Mackenzie King, the prime minister of Canada. Walter Harley Trueman died in 1951 in Guelph, Ontario. He was subsequently buried in Winnipeg in St. John's Cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trueman, Walter Haley 1870 births 1951 deaths 19th-century Canadian lawyers 19th-century Canadian judges People from Saint John, New Brunswick People from Winnipeg Lawyers in Manitoba Judges in Manitoba