![handle is hein.journals/bebalenw7 and id is 1 raw text is: BENCH
AND
BAR
THE NATIONAL LEGAL NEWSPAPER
VoL 7 January, 1937 No. I
Law Society of Upper
Canada Passes Rules
Anent Trust Funds
EFFECTIVE NEXT MONTH
The benchers of the Law Society
of Upper Canada have drawn up
new rules concerning accounts
which are applicable to all lawyers
in Ontario, effective February 1st.
These new rules make strict pro-
vision for the keeping of proper
accounts, the separation of clients'
moneys from funds belonging to
barristers and solicitors, and the re-
tention of all funds of clients in a
separate trust account. The benchers
passed the rules as a means of safe-
guarding the interests of the public
by preventing the mixture of pri-
vate funds with trust funds, and
drastic punishment is provided for
barristers and solicitors who pursue
improper courses in connection with
their clients' funds. The new rules
which were passed on December
28th provide in effect that:
(1) Every barrister and solicitor
shall keep strict and proper ac-
counts.
(2) He shall separate his clients'
funds from his own funds;
(3) He shall keep all clients' funds
in a separate trust account;
(4) The benchers of the law so-
ciety or their discipline committee
-'may, ne t only on conplaiit but also
of their own motion, cause the
books of any barrister or solicitor
to be investigated by a chartered
accountant. The barrister or soli-
citor whose books are under inves-
tigation is obliged to produce to the
chartered accountant all such
vouchers, records, books and docu-
ments as the accountant may re-
quire for the purpose of his inves-
tigation.
(5) The benchers are given power
to treat any infringement of the
rules as professional misconduct, as
a result of which the barrister or
solicitor guilty of such infringement
may be, suspended or disbarred.
There are also other rules which
provide 1hat no barrister or solicitor
shall at any time permit the ac-
count of any person in any trust or
client account to be overdrawn.
There is a provision also that before
instituting an investigation on a
complaint made by a third person,
the benchers and (or) the discipline
committee may require prima facie
evidence that a ground of complaint
exists, and may require the payment
by such complainant to the Law
Society of a reasonable sum to be
fixed by the benchers or discipline
committee to cover costs of the in-
vestigation and the costs of the bar-
rister and solicitor against whom the
complaint is made.
The new rules are printed in full in
1936 OWN., part 44 lopp. p. 657).
Similar rules were passed by the
benchers of the Law Society of Manitoba
and came into force January 1, 1935 Ed.
REGINA BAR ASSOCIATION
At the annual meeting of the Re-
gina Bar Association held last
month, the following officers were
elected:
Honorary president, Chief Justice
Sir Frederick Haultain; president,
J. W. Hill; vice-president, C. R.
Davidson; secretary, D. M. Tyer-
man; executive, F. G. Weir, R. M.
Balfour, W. G. Currie, S. D. Thom
and Walter Scott.
I Appointed to Red Chamber
J. W. de B. FARRIS, K.C.
J. W. de B. Farris, K.C., vice-
president of the Canadian Bar As-
sociation, has been appointed sena-
for, according to an announcement
recently issued by Prime Minister
Mackenzie King. Appointment of
Mr. Farris fills the Senate vacancy
created by the death last summer
of Hon. Charles McDonald, who
held his seat for less than a year.
One of the outstanding members
of the bar of British Columbia, J. W.
deB. Farris, K.C., heads the Vancou-
ver firm of Farris, Farris, Stultz,
Bull and Farris.
Mr. Farris was born at White's
Cove, New Brunswick, December
3rd, 1878, the son of the late Lauch-
lan P. Farris. He was educated at
St. Martin's Seminary in his native
province, later attending Acadia
University in Nova Scotia. He gra-
ALBERTA JUDGE SAYS
LAWYERS ARE LAW
ABIDING
Belief in the honesty of members
of the legal profession, despite the
fact that lawyers are exposed to the
temptation of daily handling many
millions of dollars of other people's
money entrusted to their care, was
expressed in a judgment of Mr.
Justice A. A. McGillivray of the
appellate division of the Supreme
Court of Alberta in Ramsdell v.
Elliott et al, 1937, I W.W.R. 37.
Mr. Justice McGillivray said in
part (at page 39): For my part I
firmly hold to the belief that the
profession of law may still be
spoken of not only as an ancient
but as an honourable one, and that
its record for honesty will compare
favourably with that of any other
class in the world. Having made
these observations I desire to add
that, there being black sheep in the
legal as in every other fold, it is
only by action on the part of those
charged with the administration of,
the criminal law, as in the case of
the solicitor in the case at bar, that
the few may be deterred from be-
smirching a shield that the vast
majority of the profession have been
careful to keep clean and shining.
duated from Acadia in 1899 and was
awarded the degree of Bachelor of
Arts2, aftcr which he proceeded to
the University of Pennsylvania to
study law. In 1902 he secured his
LL.B. degree and in the same year
returned to New Brunswick to read
(Continued on page 8)
IMPORTERS OF U.S. RADIO
SETS MAY FACE SUITS
IN CANADIAN COURTS
Customs tariffs are not the only
handicap to be overcome by Cana-
dian visitors to the United States in
bringing into Canada goods pur-
chased by them. An Ottawa resident
recently visiting in the United
States brought back with him a
radio receiving set under the tour-
ists' duty exemption provision. He
has been threatened with a legal
action for damages because of in-
fringement of the patent rights of
a Canadian radio company.
Patent rights cover the manufac-
ture, sale and use of the patented
article. The Canadian company
holding a patent from the Canadian
government regards the use of a
radio bought outside of Canada as
an infringement of its rights. Con-
sequently, the buyer of the radio set
may face an action for damages.
The Department of National
Revenue takes the stand that it has
nothing to do with the matter as
there has been no breach of the
customs laws. With scores of pat-
ented articles being privately im-
ported by Canadian visitors to the
United States, customs officials are
wondering how they can provide
tourists with information which
would enable them to guard against
suits for patent infringement.
IN THIS ISSUE
Ontario Bar Meeting ........... 1, 5
Quebec Decisions ............... 4
Law Society Rules,
C om m ent ............................. 6
Correspondence ......... 8
B. C. Legislation 1....... 0
Recent Decisions ...... 6, 8, 9, 10
Ontario Bench and Bar Holds
Winter Meeting in London
ROWELL HONOUR GUEST
Support of Bar Asked
The annual midwinter meeting of
the Ontario branch of the Canadian
Bar Association was held at the
Hotel London in London, Ontario,
Saturday, June 9th, under the aus-
pices of the Middlesex Law Associa-
tion. Addresses were given by Hon.
H. H. Davis, president of the Cana-
dian Bar Association and by G. W.
Mason, K.C., Toronto, while in the
evening a dinner was tendered to
Hon. N. W. Rowell, Chief Justice of
Ontario.
The one-day session opened at
noon with a luncheon at which Mr.
Justice Davis was the guest speaker.
The luncheon was followed by a
business session in which G. W.
Mason, K.C., a bencher of the Law
Society of Upper Canada, led a
discussion on solicitors' problems of
the day. Referring to the reported
encroachments into the work of the
legal profession by trust companies,
chartered accountants and convey-
ancers, Mr. Mason declared that a
further move would be made shortly
by the association to seek legislation
to protect members of the legal pro-
fession in this regard. The most
recent effort of the association to
secure protecthve .]is.atiP4Y failed
when the government felt that the
move was too drastic. Such laws
were active in England, Scotland
and New Zealand, Mr. Mason de-
clared, and he was confident that a
similar measure would be secured in
Ontario.
Resolutions
Several resolutions presented by
the county bar associations were
discussed by 300 members of the
Ontaria bar attending the session.
One of these dealt with a proposal
to consolidate the recommendations
of the various law associations of
one district. The Ontario Association
authorized the formation of a coun-
cil composed of representatives of
all the societies in a district. The
plan is to be first tried in western
(Continued on page 5)
LEGAL ADVICE OVER
RADIO PROHIBITED
Free legal advice, broadcast
to the general public either
through newspapers or over
the radio, has been prohibited
following a decision by the
appellate division of the Su-
preme Court of New York.
The ruling forbids attorneys to
answer questions of law or
give an opinion through a
publicity medium of any kind,
whether compensated or not.
The decision follows a series
of radio programmes known as
The Good Will Court, where-
in legal advice was broadcast
over the radio to the public at
large.
The American Bar Associa-
tion recently gave as its opinion
that the participation by a
judge, or the use of his name
in a commercially sponsored
radio programme purporting to
be for the benefit of the public
through the giving of legal ad-
vice to indigent persons, is
contrary to the standards of
behaviour prescribed by the
Canons of Judicial Ethics.
CMEF J.USTICE CIISHOLM1
MARkS ANNIVERSARY
Sir Joseph Chisholm, Chief Jus-
tice of Nova Scotia, was recently
tendered a luncheon by his associ,
ates in the legal profession in
honour of the fiftieth aniversary of
his admission to the bar. During
the day a cigarette case, suitably
engraved, was presented to Sir
Joseph in honour of the occasion.
Replying to a congratulatory ad-
dress by Mr. Justice H. Mellish
delivered at a dinner given in hon-
our of Sir Joseph, the chief justice
recalled his admission to the bar in
1886 and his early days of practice
in Antigonish, where he was articled
to Hon. D. C. Fraser, later a justice
of the Supreme Court and Lieuten-
ant Governor of Nova Scotia.
(Continued on page 5)
BELGIAN JUDGE HEADS INTERNATIONAL
ARBITRATION COMMITTEE AT TRAIL
With the appointment of Jean
Francois Hostie, eminent Belgian
judge and expert in international
law, as neutral chairman of the
Trail Smelter tribunal, a further
step has been taken in the disposition
of one of the largest problems, from
point of money and research in-
volved, ever to affect the border
relations of the United States and
Canada. It arises from claims for
damage to property in the United
States from the great smelter plant
on the Canadian side of the inter-
national border.
On the recommendation of Prime
Minister Mackenzie King, Secretary
of State for External Affairs, ap-
proved by Secretary of State Cor-
dell Hull in Washington, Mr. Justice
Hostie was selected. He has accepted
the task and it is expected that the
tribunal will be convened in May
next.
Damage claims from residents in
the State of Washington arising
from alleged injuries to vegetation
from fumes emanating from the
smelter at Trail, B.C., about ten
miles from the United States border,
are the point at issue. Representa-
tive members of the tribunal will.
be Chief Justice R. A. Greenshield
of the Quebec Superior Court, and
Hon. Charles Warren, former assist-
ant United States Attorney-General.
John E. Read, K.C., of the legal
department of External Affairs, will
represent the Dominion, while J. A.
Metzger of the State Department,
Washington, will be agent for the
United States. Necessary secretariat
and scientific advisers will be ap-
pointed.
By virtue of an agreement signed
in 1935 the United States Govern-
ment accepted an award of $350,000
for damages suffered up to the end
of 1931, with the understanding that
this tribunal would be set up to
assess damages incurred since that
time. Many volumes of scientific
data have been prepared by experts
of both countries covering the
claims.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/bebalenw7&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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