Looking Back on 50 Years of Progress at Queen's Law

Mark D. Walters receiving his Queen’s LL.B. degree from John D. Whyte, Dean of Law 1987/88 – 1991/92, on May 27, 1989.

Over the past three months, Professor Mark Walters wrote an article entitled "Let Right Be Done: A History of the Faculty of Law at Queen's." The paper is being distributed at alumni events in 2007 as part of the "Queen's Law at 50" celebrations. Walters, a 1989 graduate of Queen's Law and a faculty member since 1999, consulted numerous sources, including decades' worth of Faculty Calendars, Law Journals and minutes from Faculty Board meetings, to piece together a succinct yet robust reflection on the past 50 years at our school.

The final product commemorates the success of the law school in establishing itself as a first class educational institution, overcoming a century of difficulty prior to 1957 in gaining Law Society recognition. In doing so, Walters offers a captivating critical analysis, shedding new light on one of the most influential law schools in Canada.

Walters credits the school administration for giving him free reign to write the article in whatever way he deemed appropriate. "I appreciate that Dean Bill Flanagan trusted me to carry out this task," he said. "No history is wholly neutral and objective, and I am grateful to the Dean for encouraging me to write the history as I saw it."

The theme throughout the article is the debate among law professors and commentators as to whether the law should be taught with a critical eye. In 1957, Queen's Law co-founder Stuart Ryan and his colleagues advocated a normative approach to teaching law at Queen's. Ryan adopted the French phrase Soit Droit Faitas the school motto, meaning both "let the law be made" and "let right be done." This dictum underscored his belief that a proper understanding of the law should be tied up with theoretical notions about social justice.

However, over the past 50 years, there have been those who disagreed with this approach to the law. For instance, Walters refers to a Canadian Lawyermagazine article from the early 1990s which declared that the Queen's Law faculty was "emphasizing ‘the vagaries of theory' and an ‘obscene degree of ideological and sexual politics.'"

Of course, what Canadian Lawyer saw at the time as a waste of time and resources Walters describes as a progressive school that encourages its students to take a unique perspective on the law. It is this progressive approach that has made Queen's Law one of the foremost law schools in Canada. According to Walters, who has been a member of the Queen's Law community since 1986, student involvement in reform movements was consistently prevalent during his time here. "I was impressed by the work that my classmates did for the school, through the [Law Students' Society] and otherwise, and I continue to be impressed today by the level of student involvement," he said.

In the paper, Walters reveals how Queen's Law became a creative force among Canadian law schools. From its creation of the Quicklaw legal database to the opening of Ontario's first in-school legal aid clinic in 1970, Queen's Law has spent much of the past 50 years at the forefront of legal innovations.

As Walters saw, faculty, staff and students at Queen's Law have continued to develop Stuart Ryan's school motto throughout its history. During the upcoming "Queen's Law at 50" celebrations, members of the Queen's Law community can look forward to being part of another 50 years of moving the law in the right direction as they reflect on the lessons of the past.

"Let Right Be Done: A History of the Faculty of Law at Queen's" is available on the Queen's Law at 50 website at http://law.queensu.ca/alumni/lawAt50Anniversary/historyQueensLaw.html.