The Gazette 1990

GAZETTE

SEPTEMBER 1990

the example of Canada and New Zealand. Decades rather than years went by before, in the nineteen- twenties, these other countries too began to admit women lawyers. In Australia, for instance, Miss A.E. Evans was admitted as a barrister by the New South Wales Full Court on 12 May 1921, but she did not practise in the courts. The first practising lady barrister in New South Wales was Mrs. Sibyl Munro Morrison, admitted on 2 June 1924. A few years later, on 17 March 1931, Enid Marjorie Russell became the first woman to qualify in law in Western Australia and to be admitted as a practitioner of the Supreme Court of Western Australia. She had been born in 1904 and died in 1958, having worked almost until she died. In 1950 she had written much of "A history of the law in Western Australia and its development from 1829 to 1979", which was edited and completed by F.M. Robinson and RW. Nichols and published by the University of WesternAustralia Press in 1980. This work included a brief biography of Miss Russell by Sheila McClemans. In South Africa, aspiring lady lawyers encountered the same kind of obstacles that had beset the path of Clara Martin in Canada. In 1909, for instance, a lady named Sonya Schlesin brought an applica- tion before the Transvaal Provincial Division to compel the Incorporated Law Society of the Transvaal to register her articles. The judge ruled against her, on the ground that the

The first women lawyers

On 22 September 1989 the new offices of the Attorney-General of Ontario in Toronto were dedicated and named the Clara Brett Martin Building to commemorate "the first woman lawyer in the whole British Empire". I happened to be in Toronto at the time, and the mention of her achievement prompted a search for the first women lawyers in other parts of what was once the British Empire. Clara Martin was called to the Bar and became a solicitor in Ontario on 2 February 1897, but she had had many obstacles to overcome on the way. As early as 1891 she had applied to the Law Society of Upper Canada for permission to become a lawyer, but her application had been rejected by the Special Committee on the Admission of Clara Brett Martinas a Student-At-Law. The Canada Law Journal welcomed the decision not to admit women and commented: "We know of no public advantage . to their being admitted to the bar. As a matter of taste it is rather a surprise to see a woman seeking a profession where she is bound to meet much that would offend the natural modesty of her sex". Nothing daunted, Clara Martin enlisted the help of Sir Oliver Mowat, the Attorney General of Ontario at the time. Thanks largely to his support, the Ontario Legislature passed an Act in 1892 " 'As a matter of taste it is rather a surprise to see a woman seeking a profession where she is bound to meet much that would offend the natural modesty of her sex'. " that gave the Law Society the right to admit women as solicitors, and Clara was articled to a Toronto law firm in 1893. An Act of 1895 obliged the Law Society to admit women to the Bar, but technical wrangles kept her from claiming her victory until February 1897. She practised law in the City of Toronto until her death in 1923.

New Zealand was hard on Canada's heels. By courtesy of the Deputy Registrar of the District Court at Dunedin I can report that Miss Ethel Rebecca Benjamin "was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in this Court before Mr. Justice Williams on 6 April 1897". This was only two months after Clara Martin had been admitted in Toronto. One wonders if the two ladies ever compared notes about their experiences. Miss Benjamin too had had dif- ficulties to contend with. When she applied to the Council for permission to use the library, the Council resolved that she could be given "a permit to read in the Judge's Chamber Room, there being no rule applicable to her case" ( Portrait of a Profession by Robin Cooke Q.C., pp.336-7). It was also suggested that the Judges should be asked to prescribe suitable dress for the women lawyers "as prescribed by the Ontario Law Society", but nothing seems to have come of this. (In February 1990 it was announced that Dame Catherine Tizard was to be New Zealand's first woman Governor-General. In this field too Canada had led the way). The Assistant Archivist of the Law Society of Upper Canada has drawn my attention to the "Rules respecting women" to be found on pages 378 and 379 of the Central Law Journal of 1919. One rule runs: "Every such woman appearing before Convocation upon the occasion of her being admitted to practise as aforesaid, shall appear in a barrister's gown worn over a black dress, white necktie, with head uncovered". The other colonies and even the mother country were slow to follow

Henry Button.

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