Article

Robert Sedgewick

Published Online January 29, 2008

Last Edited December 14, 2013

Robert Sedgewick, lawyer, jurist (b at Aberdeen, Scot 10 May 1848; d at Chester, NS 4 Aug 1906). Sedgewick was the prime mover in the establishment of Dalhousie U's law school in 1883, the first school to teach common law in the British Empire.

Sedgewick, Robert

Robert Sedgewick, lawyer, jurist (b at Aberdeen, Scot 10 May 1848; d at Chester, NS 4 Aug 1906). Sedgewick was the prime mover in the establishment of Dalhousie U's law school in 1883, the first school to teach common law in the British Empire. He was appointed municipal judge for Halifax in 1883 and also lectured in equity jurisprudence at Dalhousie. In 1886 he was appointed deputy minister of justice for Canada. In 1890 he drafted both the Bills of Exchange Act, the first codified legislation in Canada, and with Judge BURBIDGE, the Canadian CRIMINAL CODE, the first legislation of its kind in the British Empire. With Sir John THOMPSON, he planned the strategy whereby the bill became law in 1892. In 1893 he was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Canada.