Recent from talks
Law Society of Ontario
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Law Society of Ontario
The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; French: Barreau de l'Ontario) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC; French: Barreau du Haut-Canada), its name was changed by statute in 2018.
The Law Society of Upper Canada was established in 1797 to regulate the legal profession in the British colony of Upper Canada and is the oldest self-governing body in North America. The Society governed the legal profession in the coterminous Canada West from 1841 to 1867, and in Ontario since Confederation in 1867.
The Law Society was authorized, although not created, by the Act for the better regulating of the practice of the law, a 1797 statute. Section 1 of the act simply authorized those at the time "admitted in the law and practising at the bar" in the province to form themselves into a "society". The 1797 statute allowed the Law Society to impose requirements for admission to the bar of Upper Canada and to test applicants against these standards.
That statute made no express provisions for any other people to become members of the Law Society: but the power to admit others than the existing practitioners was considered to be implied by section 5. Section 5 provided that "no person other than the present practitioners ... shall be permitted to practise at the bar of any of His Majesty's courts in this province, unless such person shall have been previously entered of and admitted into the said society as a student of the laws ... and shall have been duly called and admitted to the practice of the law as a barrister, according to the constitutions and establishment thereof". Incorporation of the Society occurred in 1822.
On July 17, 1797, at Wilson's Hotel in Newark, Ontario (now Niagara-on-the-Lake), a group of lawyers, including John White, Robert Isaac Dey Gray, and Bartholomew Crannell Beardsley, inaugurated the Law Society pursuant to the 1797 act.
The Law Society's first home was at Wilson's Hotel, then from 1799 to 1832 at various temporary locations at York (Toronto) until Osgoode Hall was built in 1832. The Law Society continued to retain its original name, even though Upper Canada ceased to exist as a political entity in 1841. Throughout the early 1800s, the Law Society imposed increasingly onerous requirements on potential Upper Canadian lawyers, at one point requiring students-at-law to live at Osgoode Hall while they completed their legal studies. Historian Paul Romney argues such licensing requirements enhanced the legal profession's "prestige" in the young colony, as compared to its position in other North American colonies or the United States.
The Law Society was reformed by statute in 1970, under the Law Society Act, 1970. That statute defined the Society as "a corporation without share capital composed of the Treasurer, the benchers, and other members from time to time". Many of the reforms in the 1971 act were inspired by the McRuer report, officially the Report of the Royal Commission Inquiry into Civil Rights (1968), a wide-ranging set of law reform recommendations for Ontario developed under the leadership of James Chalmers McRuer.
On October 27, 1994, the Law Society adopted a "role statement" holding that it "exists to govern the legal profession in the public interest" and has the "purpose of advancing the cause of justice".
Hub AI
Law Society of Ontario AI simulator
(@Law Society of Ontario_simulator)
Law Society of Ontario
The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; French: Barreau de l'Ontario) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC; French: Barreau du Haut-Canada), its name was changed by statute in 2018.
The Law Society of Upper Canada was established in 1797 to regulate the legal profession in the British colony of Upper Canada and is the oldest self-governing body in North America. The Society governed the legal profession in the coterminous Canada West from 1841 to 1867, and in Ontario since Confederation in 1867.
The Law Society was authorized, although not created, by the Act for the better regulating of the practice of the law, a 1797 statute. Section 1 of the act simply authorized those at the time "admitted in the law and practising at the bar" in the province to form themselves into a "society". The 1797 statute allowed the Law Society to impose requirements for admission to the bar of Upper Canada and to test applicants against these standards.
That statute made no express provisions for any other people to become members of the Law Society: but the power to admit others than the existing practitioners was considered to be implied by section 5. Section 5 provided that "no person other than the present practitioners ... shall be permitted to practise at the bar of any of His Majesty's courts in this province, unless such person shall have been previously entered of and admitted into the said society as a student of the laws ... and shall have been duly called and admitted to the practice of the law as a barrister, according to the constitutions and establishment thereof". Incorporation of the Society occurred in 1822.
On July 17, 1797, at Wilson's Hotel in Newark, Ontario (now Niagara-on-the-Lake), a group of lawyers, including John White, Robert Isaac Dey Gray, and Bartholomew Crannell Beardsley, inaugurated the Law Society pursuant to the 1797 act.
The Law Society's first home was at Wilson's Hotel, then from 1799 to 1832 at various temporary locations at York (Toronto) until Osgoode Hall was built in 1832. The Law Society continued to retain its original name, even though Upper Canada ceased to exist as a political entity in 1841. Throughout the early 1800s, the Law Society imposed increasingly onerous requirements on potential Upper Canadian lawyers, at one point requiring students-at-law to live at Osgoode Hall while they completed their legal studies. Historian Paul Romney argues such licensing requirements enhanced the legal profession's "prestige" in the young colony, as compared to its position in other North American colonies or the United States.
The Law Society was reformed by statute in 1970, under the Law Society Act, 1970. That statute defined the Society as "a corporation without share capital composed of the Treasurer, the benchers, and other members from time to time". Many of the reforms in the 1971 act were inspired by the McRuer report, officially the Report of the Royal Commission Inquiry into Civil Rights (1968), a wide-ranging set of law reform recommendations for Ontario developed under the leadership of James Chalmers McRuer.
On October 27, 1994, the Law Society adopted a "role statement" holding that it "exists to govern the legal profession in the public interest" and has the "purpose of advancing the cause of justice".