Don Stuart Awarded Mundell Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Legal Writing

Photo by Jonathan Clancy/Ontario Bar Association.

Professor Don Stuart delivers his acceptance speech as the 2007 Mundell Medal recipient at the Ontario Bar Association's Annual Institute of Continuing Legal Education luncheon in Toronto on February 6, 2007.

Queen's Law Professor Don Stuart has been awarded the prestigious David Walter Mundell Medal for his outstanding contribution to legal writing. The Attorney General of Ontario, Michael Bryant, presented the award to Professor Stuart at the Ontario Bar Association's Annual Institute of Continuing Legal Education meeting in Toronto on Tuesday, February 6, 2007.

The award is decided on by a committee chaired by Chief Justice McMurtry of the Ontario Court of Appeal. In the award presentation, the Attorney General indicated that Professor Stuart is "one of the most recognized criminal scholars in Canada and his writings have been extraordinarily influential. Both bench and bar owe him much."

The Mundell Medal was established in 1986 by then Attorney General Ian Scott to honour the late David W. Mundell, distinguished member of the bar in Ontario, pre-eminent constitutional lawyer and, for many years, counsel in the Ministry of the Attorney General. It is presented annually to an Ontario writer on legal or professional matters who has, by publication in the preceding year or over a period of years, made a distinguished contribution to law and letters.

Professor Stuart is one of Canada's pre-eminent authorities in the field of criminal law and procedure. As a prolific and widely published writer in a career that has spanned 30 years, he has made a substantial contribution to his field of expertise. Professor Stuart has co-authored three casebooks that are widely used by Canadian law schools, Learning Canadian Criminal Law, Learning Canadian Criminal Procedure, and Evidence, Principles and Problems. He has authored two textbooks, Canadian Criminal Law: A Treatise and Charter Justice in Canadian Criminal Law, and co-edited the book of essays, Towards a Clear and Just Criminal Law. Professor Stuart's work is frequently cited by the Supreme Court of Canada, and appellate and trial courts. In his 25 years as Editor-in-Chief of Criminal Reports, a national case reporting and annotation service, he has published over 450 case comments and short articles. Since 2001, he has also served as editor of the National Judicial Institute's Judges Criminal Law e-letter. In this publication, every three weeks he provides over 500 judges with timely and insightful summaries of important criminal law decisions.

Professor Stuart is honoured to receive the Mundell Medal, a competition decided entirely by legal practitioners. "Criminal law is a very complicated and controversial area," he said, "It's very gratifying to know that some people think [my work] has helped. I have been enriched over many happy years at Queen's by fine colleagues and students."

"This is a wonderful tribute that honours Professor Stuart's immense contributions over the years to criminal law scholarship in Canada," said Dean William Flanagan.

Professor Stuart received the Canadian Association of Law Teachers' Award for Academic Excellence in 1998 in recognition of his outstanding contributions to legal scholarship and education. He has also won the Law Students' Society Award for Teaching Excellence in 1996 and 2006. On February 13, 2007 Professor Stuart was short-listed for Queen's University's 2007 Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching.