David Lynch Scott (21 August 1845 – 26 July 1924) 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 ...

militia officer, lawyer, and judge. He served as mayor of Orangeville, Ontario, mayor of

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city populatio ...

and

Chief Justice of Alberta The Court of Appeal of Alberta (frequently referred to as Alberta Court of Appeal or ABCA) is a Canadian appellate court. Jurisdiction and hierarchy within Canadian courts The court is the highest in Alberta, Canada. It hears appeals from the ...

Early life

He was born in

Brampton, Ontario Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it th ...

, the son of John Scott and Mary Lynch. He studied law at

Osgoode Hall Osgoode Hall is a landmark building in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original -storey building was started in 1829 and finished in 1832 from a design by John Ewart and William Warren Baldwin. The structure is named for William Osgood ...

, was called to the Ontario bar in 1870 and practised in Brampton and Orangeville. In 1882, he moved to

Marriage

He married Mary McVittie on November 19, 1883 in Barrie, Ontario.

Career

He enlisted as a private in the 36th (Peel) Battalion of Infantry during the Fenian invasions of 1866. By the end of his military service in 1879, he had attained the rank of

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

. Scott was mayor of Orangeville from 1879–1880, and in 1884-85 served as the first Mayor of Regina. Scott first rose to prominence as a lawyer when he acted as the junior counsel for the

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

in the prosecutions of

Louis Riel Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of Canada and its first ...

, Big Bear,

Poundmaker Pîhtokahanapiwiyin ( – 4 July 1886), also known as Poundmaker, was a Plains Cree chief known as a peacemaker and defender of his people, the Poundmaker Cree Nation. His name denotes his special craft at leading buffalo into buffalo poun ...

and those involved in the Frog Lake Massacre following the North-West Rebellion of 1885. He was named

Queen'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 o ...

in 1885 and was the first person admitted as an advocate of the Northwest Territories. Scott became a justice of the newly formed Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories in 1894, seated in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. In 1907 he became a member of the Supreme Court of the new

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, seated in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. When

Arthur Sifton resigned to become Premier, Scott thought he would be his replacement. However,

Horace Harvey Horace Harvey (October 1, 1863 – September 9, 1949) was a lawyer, jurist, and a Chief Justice of Alberta, Canada. Early and family life Harvey was born in Elgin County, Canada West, on October 1, 1863, to William Harvey, Liberal Member of ...

received the appointment. This frustrated Scott to the extent that he went from being an extremely active member of the bench, to a virtually non-existent member for the next decade. However, on 15 September 1921, he became the Chief Justice of Alberta and presided over the Supreme Court of Alberta Appellate Division. This reignited the feud with Harvey who had occupied the position of Chief Justice of Alberta since 1910.Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'', ibid.
/ref> The feud was resolved in Scott's favour by the

Judicial Committee of the Privy Council The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Aug ...

in ''Reference re Chief Justice of Alberta''.

Later life

Scott was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor ...

from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

in 1924.

Death

He died in Cooking Lake, Alberta, where he had a summer cottage, at the age of 78 in 1924. He was interred in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, David Lynch 1845 births 1924 deaths Lawyers in Alberta Judges in Alberta Mayors of places in Ontario Mayors of Regina, Saskatchewan People from Brampton 19th-century King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel Pre-Confederation Saskatchewan people Judges in the Northwest Territories Canadian King's Counsel