Douglas Charles Abbott, (May 29, 1899 – March 15, 1987) 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 ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

, federal

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘ prime minister� ...

, and justice 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 ...

. Abbott's appointment directly from the

Cabinet of Canada The Cabinet of Canada (french: Cabinet du Canada) is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada. Chaired by the prime minister, the ...

Finance Minister A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

to the Supreme Court was one of the most controversial in the Supreme Court's history.

Early life

Abbott was born in

Lennoxville, Quebec Lennoxville is an ''arrondissement'', or borough, of the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Lennoxville is located at the confluence of the St. Francis and Massawippi Rivers approximately five kilometres south of downtown Sherbrooke. Lennoxvi ...

(now

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional cou ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

). He attended

Bishop's University Bishop's University (french: Université Bishop's) is a small English-language liberal arts university in Lennoxville, a borough of Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The founder of the institution was the Anglican Bishop of Quebec, George Mountain ...

, graduating with 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 yea ...

. He then attended

McGill Law School The Faculty of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the oldest law school in Canada, and continually ranks among the best law schools in the world. The faculty is known for it ...

, but interrupted his studies to sign up for service overseas, in 1916. Returning from the Great War, he completed his legal studies, earning his

Bachelor of Civil Law Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated BCL, or B.C.L.; la, Baccalaureus Civilis Legis) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. The BCL originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Cam ...

. He then went to France to attend the Université de Dijon. Returning to Canada, he was called to the

Barreau du Québec The Bar of Quebec (french: Barreau du Québec) is the regulatory body for the practice of advocates in the Canadian province of Quebec and one of two legal regulatory bodies in the province. It was founded on May 30, 1849, as the Bar of Lower Ca ...

in 1921 and practised law in Montreal with the firm of Fleet, Phelan, Fleet & Le Mesurier.

Political career

Abbott successfully stood for election to the House of Commons in 1940, and remained a member of the House for fourteen years. A member of the

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia' ...

, Abbott served as both Minister of National Defence (1945–46) and

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

(1946–54).

Supreme Court justice

He was appointed to the

on July 1, 1954 and served as

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 ...

until December 23, 1973. Abbott was appointed to the court directly from the

's Cabinet, where he had served the previous 7 years as Finance Minister. The appointment is considered one of the most controversial in the history of the Supreme Court. It was the first appointment directly from cabinet since the 1911 appointment of

Louis-Philippe Brodeur Louis-Philippe Brodeur, baptised Louis-Joseph-Alexandre Brodeur (August 21, 1862 – January 2, 1924) was a Canadian journalist, lawyer, politician, federal Cabinet minister, Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, and puisne justice of ...

. As of , Abbott was the last Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada appointed directly to the Court from the

, and the last Justice to have held elected office prior to his appointment.

Parliamentary seats

House of Commons

* 16 May 1940 – 16 April 1945: St. Antoine—Westmount, Quebec * 6 September 1945 – 30 April 1949: St. Antoine—Westmount, Quebec * 15 September 1949 – 13 June 1953: St. Antoine—Westmount, Quebec * 12 November 1953 – 30 June 1954:

Saint-Antoine—Westmount St. Antoine—Westmount and Saint-Antoine—Westmount were federal electoral districts in Quebec, Canada, that were represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1935 to 1968. "St. Antoine—Westmount" riding was created in 1933 from parts ...

, Quebec

Parliamentary functions

Ministry

* 18 April 1945 – 11 December 1946: Minister of National Defence for Naval Services * 21 August 1945 – 11 December 1946: Minister of National Defence * 10 December 1946 – 30 June 1954:

and

Receiver General A receiver general (or receiver-general) is an officer responsible for accepting payments on behalf of a government, and for making payments to a government on behalf of other parties. See also * Treasurer * Receiver General for Canada * Rece ...

Parliamentary Secretary

* 1 April 1943 – 7 March 1945: Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance * 8 March 1945 – 16 April 1945: Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of National Defence

References

External links

*
Supreme Court of Canada biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, Douglas Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers Canadian Ministers of Finance Defence ministers of Canada Canadian Anglicans Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Liberal Party of Canada MPs Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada 1899 births 1987 deaths Politicians from Sherbrooke Anglophone Quebec people McGill University Faculty of Law alumni