John Erskine Read

Read, John Erskine

John Erskine Read, lawyer, judge (b at Halifax 5 July 1888; d at Toronto 23 Dec 1973). A Dalhousie professor (and dean) of law in the 1920s, Read was present during the formative years of the Dept of External Affairs, which he served as legal adviser 1928-46, and the International Court of Justice at The Hague, where he was a judge 1946-58. In External Affairs, Read acted for Canada in disputes such as the I'M ALONE case, seizing opportunities to extend Canada's legal independence, and rose to be deputy undersecretary of state. An expert in constitutional and international law, progressive in his views, he wrote The Origins and Nature of the Law (1955) and The Rule of Law on the International Plane (1961).