"Throughout his career, both in public life and on the bench, Sir William Ritchie has been regarded as a thoroughly conscientious and upright gentleman, as well as an emi nent jurist. To a great knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence he adds indefati gable industry; and the amount of research and labor which he devotes to the prepara tion of his judgments is astonishing. While other judges may occasionally consider it sufficient to say that they concur in the views of the majority, the Chief-Justice seems to make it a rule to go thoroughly into the merits of each case, and to give lucid and elaborate reasons for his conclu sions. In those instances where appeals have been taken from the decision of our Supreme Court to the judicial committee of the Privy Council the opinions of the ChiefJustice have almost invariably been con curred in." Sir William Ritchie presides over his court with firmness and dignity, and is re markable for the soundness of his legal per ception and the quickness with which he apprehends the true issue of any case argued before him. He detects a fallacy or sophis try in argument with unerring certainty, and the most complicated questions when sub mitted to his clear working mind soon as sume their true value and bearing. The present senior puisne judge, the Hon. Samuel Henry Strong, was also appointed to a seat on the Supreme Court bench in 1875. This brilliant judge was born in 1825, and in early life was for a time a stu dent in the city in which he now resides and fills one of the most important positions in the gift of his country. After practising his profession for some years in Toronto, where he soon became one of the leaders of the equity bar, in 1869 he was raised to the bench as senior Vice-Chancellor of the Prov ince, at the comparatively early age of fortyfour. After serving in that capacity for five years he was promoted to the Court of Er ror and Appeal of the Province. When the creation of a Supreme Court of Appeal for
the Dominion was being mooted, Judge Strong by general consent was coupled with Chief-Justice Richards as most eminently qualified for a seat on the bench of that court. The " Canada Law Journal," writing on the subject some time before the appoint ments were made by the Government, after discussing the acknowledged fitness of ChiefJustice Richards for the position of chief of the proposed court, said: "With regard to his coadjutors in this Province one name immediately presents itself, that of Mr. Jus tice Strong. Admittedly a man of great talent and learning and a scientific lawyer, he is undoubtedly one of the best civil-law jurists in Canada, and thoroughly familiar with the French language. The great ad vantages of these qualifications in such a position are obvious." And upon his ap pointment the same journal remarked that "as a lawyer pure and simple and in intel lectual capacity he has no superior on the bench." As might be expected, Judge Strong's judgments are models of judicial style; clear, logical, and expressed in the purest and most correct English, they are deserving of the closest study for their beauty of diction, their close reasoning, and profound legal research. In appearance Judge Strong is strikingly handsome. On any bench he would be re marked for his fine intellectual face and judicial bearing. The Hon. Telesphore Fournier, the senior judge at present on the Supreme Court Bench from the Province of Quebec, was born on the 5th of August, 1823, at St. Francois, in the County of Montmagny, in the Province of Quebec. A peculiar interest attaches to him in relation to the subject-matter of this article, be cause, while Minister of Justice of the Dominion, he introduced into the House of Commons the Bill for the establishment of the court, and took charge of the measure through the various stages of its progress in the House, explaining, and when necessary, defending its provisions with great clearness
