House of Commons Procedure and Practice

Second Edition, 2009

House of Commons Procedure and Practice - Law Clerks of the House of Commons Since 1867 - Appendix 10. Law Clerks of the House of Commons Since 1867

Appendix 10 Law Clerks of the House of Commons Since 1867

An Order-in-Council appointee by Letters Patent under the Great Seal, the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel is responsible for providing legal advice to Members of Parliament, the House of Commons standing committees and the Administration, including the Board of Internal Economy. The Law Clerk may intervene in court actions on behalf of the Speaker of the House of Commons or Members to ensure that parliamentary rights and immunities are respected. The Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel also provides legislative assistance to Members in drafting private Members’ bills and motions to amend bills, and ensures that bills are correctly printed or reprinted with amendments as approved by the House or one of its committees and when ultimately enacted as Acts of Parliament. The Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel acts as one of the senior Table Officers in the Chamber which enables him to be closely informed of the progress of legislation in the House and provides Members with easy access to the Law Clerk.

	Name	Date of Order-in-Council Appointment	End of Term
1.	Gustavus William Wicksteed[1]	July 1, 1867	January 31, 1887
2.	William Wilson[2]	February 1, 1887	November 16, 1889
3.	Frederick Augustus McCord	November 26, 1889	July 23, 1908
4.	Arthur Henry O’Brien[3]	August 31, 1908	June 30, 1913
5.	Francis Hernaman Gisborne[4]	October 8, 1913	July 31, 1922
6.	Joseph K. Foran[5]	June 28, 1923	June 30, 1924
7.	Arthur Gordon Troop[6]	June 28, 1923	December 31, 1936
8.	Arthur Angus Fraser	January 1, 1937	November 24, 1951
9.	Paul Maurice Ollivier[7]	May 24, 1925	September 25, 1967
10.	J.P. Joseph Maingot[8]	January 1, 1971	April 8, 1982
11.	Marcel R. Pelletier[9]	January 3, 1983	October 23, 1990
12.	Robert R. Walsh[10]	December 16, 1999

[1] Until his appointment as Law Clerk of the House of Commons, Gustavus William Wicksteed held the position of Law Clerk of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from 1841 to 1867. Born in Liverpool, England, he was the first Law Clerk of the House of Commons.

[2] William Wilson was the first Canadian-born Law Clerk of the House of Commons and he was both a lawyer and a medical doctor.

[3] Arthur Henry O’Brien is the author of O’Brien’s Conveyancer, volumes which are collectively known today as O’Brien’s Encyclopedia of Forms (11^th ed., 2006), a compendium of non-litigious legal forms covering a wide field of law. See www.obriensforms.com.

[4] Francis Hernaman Gisborne was Assistant Deputy Minister of Justice before his appointment to the House of Commons as Parliamentary Counsel and was given the rank of Deputy Minister (Debates, January 22, 1914).

[5] After Francis Hernaman Gisborne’s departure in 1922, Joseph K. Foran and Arthur Gordon Troop were appointed Joint Law Clerks and the position of Parliamentary Counsel was abolished. These actions were only made official in the Journals of the House of Commons on June 28, 1923.

[6] Arthur Gordon Troop was Joint Law Clerk with Joseph K. Foran (1922-24), and then with Paul Maurice Ollivier (1924-36).

[7] Although Paul Maurice Ollivier’s appointment date is 1925, he was acting as Joint Law Clerk during the 1924 session to assist Arthur Gordon Troop (letter from the Clerk, Mr. Northrup, to the Civil Service Commission, 25 November 1924). Paul Maurice Ollivier was Joint Law Clerk with Arthur Gordon Troop, then with Arthur Angus Fraser, and as Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel up to the end of 1970, making him the longest-serving Law Clerk in the history of the House of Commons.

[8] J.P. Joseph Maingot was appointed Assistant Law Clerk on January 3, 1967. He is the author of Parliamentary Privilege in Canada (1982; 2nd ed., 1997).

[9] Following Marcel R. Pelletier’s departure, the functions of the Office of the Law Clerk were separated into two offices: a Legislative Counsel Office reporting to the Deputy Clerk and a Legal Services Office reporting to the Clerk.

[10] In 1999, a further re-organization reconstituted the Law Branch much as it had been before the changes in 1991 and Robert R. Walsh was appointed Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel.