Ronald Martland

Ronald Martland

Introduction to Ronald Martland

Ronald Martland (1907-1997), Canadian jurist and puisne (associate) justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (1958-1982). He was born in Great Crosby, England. He received a bachelor's degree in 1926 and a law degree in 1928 from the University of Alberta. He went to the University of Oxford in England as a Rhodes Scholar, where he received a bachelor's degree in law in 1931. He practiced corporate and natural resources law in Edmonton, Alberta, for 26 years before Prime Minister John Diefenbaker appointed him to the Supreme Court in January 1958.

Martland served on the Court for just over 24 years. For much of that period he led a loose alliance that dominated the Court. Most important among that group's rulings was the string of decisions that weakened the impact of the Bill of Rights enacted by the Parliament under Diefenbaker in 1960. The rulings began with the decision in Robertson and Rosetanni v. R. (1963). In that case the Court found that the Lord's Day Act, which prevented commercial activity on Sundays, did not conflict with the guarantee of freedom of religion included in the Bill of Rights.

In 1973 Martland, as the most senior justice at the time, was widely expected to be appointed chief justice. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau chose Bora Laskin instead. For a time Martland continued to dominate the Court, frequently isolating Laskin in dissent, but before long a string of new Court appointments tipped the balance toward Laskin. The rivalry between Martland and Laskin was based on two different styles of judicial decision-making. Under Martland's more mechanical jurisprudence, judges simply applied existing rules and precedents, while under Laskin's approach judges considered the policy consequences of decisions and were more likely to alter existing precedents to meet changing conditions.

The dramatic high point of the Martland-Laskin confrontation was the Patriation Reference (1981). In that case the provinces challenged Trudeau's attempt to unilaterally patriate (remove Britain's oversight and give the Canadian government full authority over its constitution) the Constitution of Canada and to add the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to the Constitution. The justices ruled 6 to 3, with Martland, that Trudeau's actions violated constitutional convention, which required the consent of the provinces for such an amendment. But the justices also ruled 7 to 2, with Laskin, that the courts, despite this violation, did not have the power to overturn his attempt. This inconclusive result led Trudeau to return to negotiations with the provinces over what was finally approved as the Constitution Act of 1982.” (1)

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Notes and References

Information about Ronald Martland in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

Guide to Ronald Martland

Law is our Passion

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This entry was last updated: August 24, 2014