William Renwick Riddell (6 April 1852 – 18 February 1945) was a Canadian lawyer, judge, and historian.
Early life and education
Group photograph of the justices of the Supreme Court of Ontario, Second Divisional Court. Depicted from left to right are: Justice Masten, Justice Riddell, Justice Latchford, Justice Middleton, and Justice Orde. A court clerk is seated below the bench. The photograph was taken in a courtroom at Osgoode Hall, ca. 1925
Riddell was born on 6 April 1852 in Hamilton Township, Canada West, and attended a public school in Hamilton Township, Cobourg Collegiate Institute, and Victoria College (then located in Cobourg).[1] He received a BA from Victoria College in 1874.[1]
Riddell was appointed as judge to the Supreme Court of Ontario in 1906.[4] He was the trial judge in Sero v Gault, where Eliza Sero, a Mohawk woman, argued that her fishing net had been illegally seized by Thomas Gault, a government fisheries inspector, because the Haudenosaunee were sovereign over the land on which she lived.[5] He dismissed Sero's claim.[6]
As a historian, he published numerous works of legal, medical, and social history, including biographies of William Kirby and John Graves Simcoe.[7] Riddell wrote more than 1,200 articles on history, law, and other subjects.[2]
Riddell had an interest in the history of slavery in Canada and abolition, as well as the history of various Indigenous peoples.[8] He has been criticized for holding white supremacist views[8] related to his writing. In 1923 he wrote that "the negro refugees were superior to most of their race, for none but those with more than ordinary qualities could reach Canada."[9] He also referred to Europeans in Canada as the "higher race" in his article about criminal law in the far north.[10]
He was known for biting, sarcastic remarks,[11] and was an "ardent imperialist".[12] Riddell was not well-liked: William Mulock thought him a "terrible man", while according to John Josiah Robinette, "everyone hated the old boy".[13]
Riddell died at his home in Toronto on 18 February 1945.[14]
Works
Some Early Legislation and Legislators in Upper Canada (1913)
Constitution of Canada in Its History and Practical Working (1917)
Old Province Tales (1920)
Travels of La Rochefoucauld in Canada 1795 (?)
First Judge at Detroit and His Court (?)
First Law Reporter in Upper Canada and His Reports (?)
Magna Carta (?)
The Legal Profession in Upper Canada in Its Early Periods (1916)
The Life of Robert Fleming Gourlay (?)
William Kirby (1923)
John Richardson (c1926)
Upper Canada Sketches (?)
The Bar and the Courts of the Province of Upper Canada (1928)
The Life of William Dummer Powell... (1924)
The Life of John Graves Simcoe (1926)
British Courts in Michigan (?)
Michigan Under British Rule (1926)
Joseph Willcocks: Sheriff, Member of Parliament and Traitor (1927)
The Courts Of Ontario, (?)
The Bar Of Ontario, (?)
The Works of Fracastorius on Morbus Gallicus (?)
A Philadelphia Lawyer in Canada in 1810 (?)
Civics (?)
The Constitution of Canada in Form and in Fact (?)
^ abFraser, Alexander (1907). "Hon. William Renwick Riddell". A History of Ontario: Its Resources and Development. Toronto: The Canada History Company. pp. 717–719. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^Riddell, William Renwick. “The Slave in Upper Canada.” Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 14, no. 2, 1923, pp. 249–78. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1133617. Accessed 7 May 2024.
^Riddell, William Renwick. “Administration of Criminal Law in the Far North of Canada.” Journal of the American Institute of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 20, no. 2, 1929, pp. 294. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1134786. Accessed 7 May 2024.
