Law Times

Page 4 August 22, 2016 • LAw times www.lawtimesnews.com Judicial history museum unique for Canadian courthouse BY RON STANG For Law Times W INDSOR — Judge Douglas Phillips, a Windsor na- tive and family law specialist with the Ontario Court of Justice, loves legal his- tory and his hometown so much he's volunteered time to create the largest historical legal exhib- it at any courthouse in Canada. "I can tell you, without fear of contradiction, that there is no such collection like this any- where in the country," says Phil- lips of the two-f loor exhibit of the history of magistrates, court- houses and the garments worn by some of the most historical figures in Canadian law. During regular business hours, the public, not to men- tion anyone who has a date with the court, can take a peek at the city's often colorful legal his- tory by looking at 400 artifacts in 42 wood cabinets located outside courtrooms on the fifth and sixth f loors. Some 250,000 people pass through the modern downtown Windsor Justice Fa- cility yearly. Phillips has been driven by the desire to pull back the veil on the stereotypical austere and for- mal world of the justice system. The collection isn't finished yet. The exhibit also shows how integral Windsor's justice sys- tem was to the growth of the city, including the creation of a gov- ernment district near the water- front on the Detroit River. "What's remarkable is that of the city's eight courthouses seven of them have been built a stone's throw from this very building," Phillips says. His often painstaking labour of love has taken Phillips to nu- merous institutional, church and cemetery archives, includ- ing the Smithsonian in Wash- ington D.C. and the Supreme Court of Canada. Much of the actual physical gathering, reproduction and laminating of exhibits has been paid for by Phillips. But he's had help from sources such as indi- vidual Windsor lawyers and law firms, the Law Foundation of Ontario and the Association of Ontario Judges. Moreover, he's been wel- comed by the joint city and provincial governing body that oversees the vast court building, which also holds Windsor's po- lice headquarters. "Frankly, people saw what was there to be shown and they encouraged the whole of the project," Phillips said. The sixth f loor's attractive wall cases start with a chronol- ogy of the area's magistrates, the very first being Francois Caron. Two original documents from the 1860s show an arrest war- rant for a notorious drunk, Re- becca King. "You can see how [Caron] had to laboriously write it all out," Phillips says. The next magistrate, Alexan- der Bartlet, is the namesake for Windsor's oldest law firm, not to mention the family that ran one of the city's most iconic depart- ment stores. Phillips was also able to ferret out the city's oldest criminal in- formation, dated from Novem- ber 1917, where a young man stole $25,000 in bonds, burned the paper and took $10 cash, doubling his money at the race track. The exhibit tells the story of magistrate Henry Theophilus Waring Ellis, appointed in 1913, who always brought his dog Rip- per to court. "I've always taken the posi- tion that was the first of court se- curity," Phillips joked. Ellis also converted his sprawling house to a hospital during the 1918 Span- ish f lu pandemic. Magistrate Arthur Carlisle, an Anglican church minister, served only one year before the church whisked him to Mon- treal, where he became a long- time Quebec bishop. Magistrate David Brodie served as president of the Canadian Red Cross and chaired a local relief campaign after a devastating 1946 tornado. "It's another one of these ex- amples of the individuals who do far more than just sitting on the bench," says Phillips. In the modern era, Justice Saul Nosanchuk, noted for cases that went to the Supreme Court of Canada on criminal sentenc- ing in the 1980s, sued under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to allow judges to vote. And Justice Lloyd Dean, appointed in 2005, carries the gold chain watch of his grandfather, James Davis, Canada's first black lawyer. Interspersed among the photos and descriptive texts are many newspaper reproductions that provide historical and social context. Downstairs, the fifth-f loor exhibits are devoted to court buildings. There are blueprints, artist renderings and photo- graphs of the city's succession of courts. The first, built in 1856, was located immediately next door and is now the site of a se- nior citizen's highrise. The second also became city hall and sits where the cur- rent 1950s-era city government building is located. Phillips's ex- hibit's third phase is still in plan- ning, though most of the exhib- its are acquired. These are the mannequins sporting judicial robes going back 75 years. Significantly, there are "his- toric robes" including Windsor- born Justice Thomas Zuber, author of the late-20 th -century's reconfigured Ontario court sys- tem, and those of Justice Den- nis O'Connor, who oversaw the Walkerton contaminated water and Maher Arar torture inquiries. There are also the robes of former Supreme Court justice Brian Dickson, noted for helping craft the compromise to repatriate Canada's constitution and for the 2003 marriage equality decision. Phillips is still awaiting fund- ing to move the mannequins, now in the judge's lounge, to a glass-encased public corridor. Phillips was honoured this year with the University of Windsor's Kulisek Prize for showcasing local history. The legal system is "something that most people don't really think about as having a history," says Miriam Wright, associate pro- fessor of history at the Univer- sity of Windsor. "It promotes the idea that history is everywhere." Christina Sweet, secretary treasurer of the Windsor Crimi- nal Lawyers Association, says the exhibit serves several pur- poses. "Aside from aesthetics, it's educational, it offers a form of entertainment, it offers an op- portunity for lawyers to work together and it certainly makes the courthouse a much warmer place." LT NEWS Annotated Arbitration Act, 1991, brings you up to date on the key principles of arbitration with section- by-section commentary and case law relating to the Ontario Act – explaining concepts relevant to everyone involved in arbitrations. • Organizes case law and commentary by subject matter that is common to arbitration legislation nationwide • Uses case law from other jurisdictions where appropriate to illustrate the principles discussed • Provides critical information needed to draft clear arbitration agreements An essential legal examination of Ontario's arbitration law Order # 987266-65203 $120 Softcover approx. 280 pages July 2016 978-0-7798-7266-4 Shipping and handling are extra. Price(s) subject to change without notice and subject to applicable taxes. © 2016 Thomson Reuters Canada Limited 00238XA-A73063-RM Annotated Arbitration Act, 1991 Alexander M. Gay and Alexandre Kaufman Justice Douglas Phillips shows off the collection of judges' robes including those of significant jurists. Photo: Ron Stang

• Cover