The Canadian Constitution in Form and in Fact

Text of four lectures delivered in Kent Hall at Columbia University in April and May, 1923 by a well-known Canadian Supreme Court justice and legal historian. The four lectures are: I. The Constitution. II. The Executive and Legislature. III. The Elected Legislative Houses. IV. The Judicature. With an index. "Mr. Justice Riddell's lectures, delivered in 1923 at Columbia University, aim at bringing out the essentially democratic character of the constitution of Canada, despite the traditional monarchical form of the government. Apart from their immediate object, they have a more general appeal as a result of the elaborate notes which illustrate and support the statements of the text. The exposition is, of course, of great interest and value as representing the views of one immediately engaged in the interpretation of the Dominion Constitution." --A. Berriedale Keith, 6 J. Comp. Legis. & Int'l. L. 3d ser. 174 1924. William Renwick Riddell [1852-1945], a native of Hamilton Township, Ontario, was a lawyer, judge and prolific historian of Canadian law. He was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Ontario in 1906 and promoted to the appeal division in 1925. He was the author of more than 1,000 reviews, pamphlets and books, including The Legal Profession in Upper Canada in its Early Periods (1916), The Constitution of Canada in its History and Practical Working (1917) and The Bar and the Courts of the Province of Upper Canada or Ontario (1928).