Life After Politics
As Supreme Court judge, Stuart found in favour of the Alberta government in a 1912 suit against the Royal Bank of Canada. In the aftermath of the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway scandal, the government had attempted to take control of money that had been raised from a bond issue in support of the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway, which had defaulted on its obligations. The Royal Bank, where the money was deposited, refused to turn it over to the government, which sued. Stuart found that the government was entitled to the money, but his ruling was overturned by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1913.
In 1921, Stuart was elevated to the Supreme Court's newly created Appellate Division. While sitting on this court, he upheld a trial decision convicting a prostitute, who appealed on the basis that the magistrate who convicted her, Alice Jamieson, was, by virtue of being a woman, not legally a person and therefore ineligible to serve as magistrate. This decision was a prelude to the famous Persons Case, which found that Canadian women were indeed persons.
Stuart became the first Chancellor of the University of Alberta in 1908, and served until his death; the university awarded him an honorary doctorate of laws in 1915. Charles Stuart died March 5, 1926.
Read more about this topic: Charles Stuart (politician)
Famous quotes containing the words life and/or politics:
“It is the responsibility of every adult—especially parents, educators and religious leaders—to make sure that children hear what we have learned from the lessons of life and to hear over and over that we love them and they are not alone.”
—Marian Wright Edelman (20th century)
“Our democracy, our culture, our whole way of life is a spectacular triumph of the blah. Why not have a political convention without politics to nominate a leader who’s out in front of nobody?... Maybe our national mindlessness is the very thing that keeps us from turning into one of those smelly European countries full of pseudo-reds and crypto-fascists and greens who dress like forest elves.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)