Robert Smith (Canadian judge)

The Honourable
Robert Smith
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Stormont
In office
1908–1911
Preceded byRobert Abercrombie Pringle
Succeeded byDuncan Orestes Alguire
Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
In office
1927–1933
Nominated byWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King
Preceded byNone (new position)
Succeeded byHenry Hague Davis
Personal details
Born(1858-12-07)7 December 1858
Ramsay Township, Canada West
Died18 March 1942(1942-03-18) (aged 83)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Political partyLiberal
ChildrenArnold Neilson Smith
Military service
AllegianceCanadian Militia
Years of service1897 - 1910
RankCaptain
Lieutenant Colonel
Unit59th Stormont and Glengarry Regiment (1897-1908)
Commands59th Stormont and Glengarry Regiment (1908-1910)

Robert Smith (7 December 1858 – 18 March 1942) was a Canadian lawyer, politician and puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada.

Born in Lanark County, Canada West (now Ontario), the son of William Smith and Jean Neilson, he was educated in Almonte and at Osgoode Hall.[1] He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1885. He then practiced law in Cornwall, Ontario.

In 1888, Smith married Florence Parker Pettit.[1]

Smith joined the 59th Stormont and Glengarry Regiment on May 28, 1897 and commanded the regiment as Lieutenant Colonel from 1908 to April 11, 1910.

In 1904, he ran for the House of Commons of Canada as a Liberal in the riding of Stormont, Ontario. He lost but won in 1908. He did not run for re-election.[2]

In 1908, Smith was named King's Counsel. Smith was a director and secretary-treasurer for the Montreal and Cornwall Navigation Company. He served as lieutenant-colonel in the militia.[1]

In 1922, he was appointed to the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Ontario and then to the Appellate Division. In 1926, he sat on the Supreme Court as an ad hoc judge and was appointed as a judge in 1927. He retired in 1933.[citation needed]

For reasons unknown, the federal government took over a year to appoint a replacement for Justice Smith, eventually appointing Henry Hague Davis in 1935.[3]

Smith died in Ottawa at the age of 83.[1]

Electoral record

1904 Canadian federal election: Stormont
Party Candidate Votes
  Conservative Robert Abercrombie Pringle 2,700
  Liberal Robert Smith 2,589
1908 Canadian federal election: Stormont
Party Candidate Votes
  Liberal Robert Smith 2,383
  Conservative Robert Abercrombie Pringle 2,033
  Independent Ambrose Fitzgerald Mulhern 658

References

  1. ^ a b c d Johnson, J.K. (1968). The Canadian Directory of Parliament 1867-1967. Public Archives of Canada.
  2. ^ Robert Smith – Parliament of Canada biography
  3. ^ James G. Snell; Frederick Vaughan (1985). The Supreme Court of Canada: History of the Institution. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0802034179., p. 148.