William Alexander Stevenson (May 7, 1934 – July 7, 2021) was a

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 ...

from 1990 to 1992.

Early life

William Alexander Stevenson was born 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 ...

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 ...

on May 7, 1934 to Alexander Lindsay Stevenson and Eileen Harriet Burns. In 1956, he graduated from the

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

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 years ...

, and then a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

in 1957. While at university, he helped found the

Alberta Law Review The ''Alberta Law Review'' is a peer-reviewed law review or legal journal, published quarterly by the Alberta Law Review Society. The Society is a non-profit organization consisting entirely of students from both the University of Alberta Universi ...

and served as its first Editor in Chief. Upon graduation, he received the

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 ...

Gold Medal in Law.

Legal career

He worked at the firm of Morrow, Morrow & Reynolds (subsequently Morrow, Reynolds and Stevenson, now Reynolds, Mirth, Richards & Farmer LLP) in Edmonton until 1968. Stevenson worked as counsel on '' Ponoka-Calmar Oils v Wakefield'', the last Canadian ruling rendered 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 Augus ...

. In 1963, he became a teacher at the University of Alberta, serving as a full-time professor from 1968 until 1970 when he returned to his firm. In 1975, he was the first Chairman of the Legal Education Society of Alberta.

Judicial career

In 1975, he was appointed to the District Court of Alberta and then to the

Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta The Court of King's Bench of Alberta (abbreviated in citations as ABKB or Alta. K.B.) is the superior court of the Canadian province of Alberta. Until 2022, it was named Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta. The Court of Queen's Bench in Calgary wa ...

in 1979. The following year he was appointed to the

Court of Appeal of Alberta The Court of Appeal of Alberta (frequently referred to as Alberta Court of Appeal or ABCA) is a Court system of Canada#Appellate courts of the provinces and territories, Canadian appellate court. Jurisdiction and hierarchy within Canadian courts ...

, where he stayed for over ten years. He also served on the

Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories The Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories is the name of two different superior courts for the Canadian territory of the Northwest Territories, which have existed at different times. The first Supreme Court of the North-West Territories was c ...

from 1976–1980, the

Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories The Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories in Canada is the highest appellate court which hears appeals from criminal cases and civil cases of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and justic ...

from 1980–1990, and the Supreme Court of the Yukon Territory from 1978-1983. He was a founder of the Canadian Judicial Centre in the late 1980s, and was seen as a pioneer of continuing education for Canadian judges. On September 17, 1990, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada; however, he retired only two years later on June 5, 1992, for health reasons due to a progressive multidegenerative neurological condition. Between October 1990 and April 1992 he published a total of 21 reasons for judgment. In remarks to an Alberta Law Review reception in 2018, Supreme Court Justice Russell Brown characterized Stevenson's judgments as "models of uncommonly fine legal writing, characterized by economical, pithy and scrupulous legal analysis."

Death

Stevenson died in Edmonton on July 7, 2021 after being diagnosed with

stage 4 Stage 4 may refer to: * Key Stage 4 * ''Stage 4'' of ''Everywhere at the End of Time'' * Cambrian Stage 4 * Stage 4 cancer * Stage 4 CKD * Dual-Stage 4-Grid The Dual-Stage 4-Grid (DS4G) is an electrostatic ion thruster design developed by the E ...

cancer a month earlier.

Publications

Stevenson and Justice Jean E.L. Côté jointly authored the ''Annotations of The Alberta Rules of Court'' which were the basis for the ''Civil Procedure Encyclopedia'', a five volume treatise used often by barristers and the courts.

Awards

In 1992, Stevenson received an Honorary

LLD Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation#Plural forms, abbrev ...

from the University of Alberta. In 1996 he was made an Officer 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 ...

.Governor General of Canada Order of Canada Recipients: William Alexander Stevenson, O.C., LL.B., LL.D., November 14, 1996.
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevenson, William Lawyers in Alberta Judges in Alberta Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada Officers of the Order of Canada University of Alberta alumni University of Alberta Faculty of Law alumni 1934 births 2021 deaths People from Edmonton