Justice Lyman Poore Duff

Justice of the Supreme Court and decided on two cases involving litigants of Japanese descent: British Columbia Land And Investment Agency v Harry H Ishitaka (1911), [1912] 45 SCR 302, and Dominion Fire Insurance Company v Nakata, [1916] 52 SCR 294. Justice Duff was born in Meaford, Ontario on January 7, 1865. He attended the University of Toronto where he studied mathematics and metaphysics, and later, law. He completed his articles in Fergus, Ontario, but moved to Victoria, British Columbia in 1894. In Victoria, he became an active member of the Liberal Party. Justice Duff rose to prominence quickly in the small legal community of Victoria and was appointed the British Columbia Supreme Court in 1903. Three years later he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. In 1918, he was also given an appointment to the Privy Council. In 1933, Justice Duff was named Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. He continued on the Supreme Court, past the mandatory retirement age of seventy-five, until his retirement in 1944.