The annual Madam Justice Mary Southin Lecture focuses on the law of equity or British Columbia legal history and is held alternately at the Allard School of Law and the Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria.
Madam Justice Southin graduated from the law school in 1952 and was called to the bar in 1953. Over the years, she earned a tremendous reputation with the Bench, her colleagues and litigants for her representation of a wide range of clients in a very broad litigation practice. Madam Justice Southin was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1969, was elected a Bencher in 1971, and became the Treasurer of the Law Society in 1977. She was the Editor in Chief of the British Columbia Law Reports from 1979 until her appointment to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 1985. She was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 1998 and retired in 2006.
This important lecture pays tribute to her legacy by reminding others to pay heed to these two important influences - law of equity and legal history - on the legal profession.
Madam Justice Mary Southin lecturers:
2023
Speakers: Sarah Morales, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria and Estair Van Wagner, Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School York University
Topic: British Columbia’s Great Land Grab: Exploring the entanglement of fee simple property and Hul’qumi’num jurisdiction on Vancouver Island
Delivered: March 2023 at UBC
2022
Speaker: Lionel Smith, Downing Professor of the Laws of England
Topic: Confusion, Illusion, or Delusion: The Irreducible Core of the Common Law Trust
Delivered: January 2022 at UVic
2021
Speakers: Lyndsay Campbell, Associate Professor & Associate Dean - Research, University of Calgary
Topic: Three Things That Might Be Wrong: Surprises From The Archives
Delivered: March 2021 at UBC
2020
Speaker: John McLaren, Emeritus Professor of Law, University of Victoria
Topic: Lawyers in the Slammer, in Hiding and on the Usual List of Suspects: Advocating for Unpopular Causes at the British Columbia Bar, 1911-1922
Delivered: January 2020 at UVic
2019
Speaker: The Honourable Selwyn Romilly, Judge of both Provincial and Supreme Court
Topic: The Accidental Judge: A Life in the Law
Delivered: February 2019 at UBC
2018
Speaker: Raymond Frogner, Archivist at Royal BC Museum and previously Head of Archives at the National Centre of Truth and Reconciliation
Topic: Hanging Onto These Words: Aboriginal Title and the Social Meanings of Archival Custody
Delivered: January 2018 at UVic
2017
Speaker: Evan Fox-Decent, Professor of Law, McGill University
Topic: Can International Law Redeem Trusteeship to Indigenous Peoples?
Delivered: February 2017 at UBC
2016
Speaker: Hamar Foster, Professor Emeritus, QC
Topic: Another Good Thing: The Decision of the Yukon Court of Appeal in the Ross River Case
Delivered: January 2016 at UVic
2015
Speaker: Dr. Jordan Stanger-Ross BA PHD, Associate Professor, History, University of Victoria, Faculty of Humanities
Topic: Peopling the Liquidation Policy: Who Forced the Sale of Japanese-Canadian-Owned Property, WWII?
Delivered: February 2015 at UBC
2014
Speaker: Douglas C. Harris, Professor of Law, University of British Columbia
Topic: Property & Sovereignty: An Indian Reserve in a Canadian City
Delivered: February 2014 at UVic
2013
Speaker: Gary Watt, Professor of Law, University of Warwick
Topic: The Tyranny of Equality and the Torment of Equity
Delivered: January 2013 at UBC