Book Plates from the Balfour Halévy Special Collections

This is a gallery of bookplates ("Ex libris") and booksellers'/bookbinders' labels from books in the Balfour Halévy Special Collections in the Canada Law Book Rare Book Room of the Osgoode Hall Law School Library. All the bookplates are related to leading figures in the law, primarily from Canada and Britain; but there are also some library bookplates. All are evidence of provenance and former ownership. They are also objects of graphic art and design, and are of significant bibliographic interest in their own right.

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Morin, Victor

Label marked “Bibliothèque de Victor Morin”. 3.8 x 4.9 cm. Harrod & Ayearst Supp. Masson Coll. Vol. IX, #1576.

Victor Morin was born in St. Hyacinthe, Quebec. He became a notary in 1888 and worked at his profession into his 90's. He served on many boards and committees, including the National and Historic Sites and Monuments Board (1921-24) and the Provincial Commission for Preservation of Historic Monuments from 1922. He was president of the St. Jean Baptiste Society (1915-24), a prominent numismatist and member of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society, was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1916, and for thirty-three years he was treasurer of the Board of Notaries. Until the age of seventy he lectured on civil law at the University of Montreal. He published many works including Medailles d’ecernées aux Indiens, 1915. (Wallace).
Morison, Murdoch

Armorial. 8.2 x 6.8 cm. Not in Gagnon; Harrod & Ayearst Supp.; Masson Collection Vol. IX, #1580 (on white paper); this plate is on blue tissue paper. Ink stain on verso bleeds through.

Possibly the Murdoch Morison (1815-1865) listed in Montreal directories as an advocate from 1843 till 1864.
Morrison, Joseph Curran (1816-1885)

Armorial. 10.6 x 7.5 cm. Gagnon I, 4908; Harrod & Ayearst, p. 104; Masson Collection Vol. IX, #1585.

Joseph C. Morrison was born in Ireland and came to Canada in 1832. He was called to the bar of Upper Canada in 1839, and entered into a partnership with William Hume Blake. In 1850 he was elected to the Legislative Assembly for the west riding of York and in 1851 for Niagara. From 1853-54 was solicitorgeneral for Upper Canada and from 1856-57, receiver general. He was back as solicitor-general from 1860-62. In 1862 he was elected a puisne judge of the Court of Common Pleas, promoted to the Queen’s Bench in 1863, and in 1877 was transferred to the Court of Appeal. (Wallace). This bookplate and the Murdoch Morison plate are almost identical.
[Reid, Hon. James] (1769-1848)

Armorial. 11.5 x 7.2 cm. Harrod & Ayearst, p. 118.

James Reid was born in Scotland and came to Canada around 1788. He was called to the bar of Lower Canada in 1794 and in 1807 was appointed a judge of the Court of King’s Bench at Montreal. He had become a Chief Justice by 1825. He became a member of the Executive Council in 1838, but resigned from these duties and from the bench a few months later. He married William McGillivray's sister, Elizabeth in 1808, and in 1810 purchased a large property from the notary, Pierre Panet situated in the Faubourg Quebec in Montreal. He handled a great many of the North West Company's contractual matters, as well as the considerable amount of litigation involved.
Robertson, Thomas (1827-1905)

Armorial. 10 x 6.9 cm. Gagnon I, 4944; Harrod. & Ayearst., p. 122; Masson Collection Vol. XI, #1799.

Thomas Robertson was born in Ancaster, Upper Canada. He was educated at King’s College in Toronto and was called to the bar in 1852. He practiced in Hamilton and represented his hometown in the House of Commons from 1878-87. In 1887 he was appointed a judge of the chancery divisions of the High Court of Justice in Ontario and held this position until 1903. (Wallace).
Robinson, John Beverly (1791-1863)

John Beverley Robinson was born in Lower Canada, son of a Virginia loyalist. The family moved to Kingston, Upper Canada, in 1792. In 1799 he was enrolled in the school in York recently opened by John Strachan, and he lived in the the Strachan household until 1807. At age 16, he left to enter the study of law D’Arcy Boulton. Robinson served in the War of 1812 as a militia officer under Sir Isaac Brock, and was appointed acting Attorney General of the province. From 1818-1829, Robinson was the Attorney General of Upper Canada, and, in 1829, he was appointed Chief Justice, Speaker of the Legislative Council, and President of the Executive Council of Upper Canada. As a judge he has had few equals in the history of Canadian judicature. [Motto: Propere et provide, or Quickly and cautiously]
Smart Jur., William Lynn (1824 - )

Crest within garter. 7.7 x 6.6 cm. Gagnon I, 4961 (for Smart Sr.); Harrod & Ayearst, p. 129; Masson Collection Vol. XII, #1987. Staining and small tear at top.

This is likely William L. Smart, born in Middlesex England, admitted as attorney in 1847, and becaming a partner in the firm of Smart, Buller & Smart. He came to Canada (Woodstock) in 1853. He was appointed Secretary of the Woodstock and Lake Erie Railway Company which afterwards amalgamated with the Amherstburg and St. Thomas Railroad Company under the title of the Canada Southern Railway where he remained until 1862. Admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada he became attorney-at-law and formed a partnership with Hector Cameron which partnership was dissolved in 1868. In 1873 he removed to Hamilton where he was appointed Deputy Judge, a position he held for three years when he again started up practice for himself. (A cyclopaedia of Canadian biography ..., Geo. Maclean Rose, 1886).
Smith, Larratt Wm. (1820-ca. 1900)

Crest. 10.8 x 8.4 cm. Gagnon I, 4965; Harrod & Ayearst, p. 130; Masson Collection Vol. XII, #2003.

Larratt William Smith was born in England. He studied in Toronto and was called to the bar in 1843 and later headed the law firm of Smith, Rae & Greer. He was a veteran of the Rebellion of 1837 and became the senior Major in the Reserve Militia. (Ewens).