the SOCIETY RECORD - Nova Scotia Barristers' Society

Detail from portrait by Dorothy E. Vicaji,
presented by Borden to the Society in 1925.
From Society President to Prime Minister of Canada:
Sir Robert Borden
Two former presidents of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society
went on to become prime minister of Canada. The first was
Sir John Sparrow David Thompson (President, 1880-82),
who served from 1892 until his sudden and premature death in
1894. The second was R. L. (Robert Laird) Borden, Prime Minister
from 1911 until his retirement in 1920.
It was during Borden’s decade as an officer of the Society (1894-1904)
that his distinguished legal career turned into a political one. In many
respects, Borden and Thompson were alike – cerebral lawyers and
reluctant politicians, no less successful and eminent in politics than
they had been in law.
Called to the Bar in 1878, Borden probably did not join the Society
until 1882. That year, Thompson was appointed to the Supreme Court
of Nova Scotia and Borden moved to Halifax to replace him in the
thriving firm at which Thompson had just ceased to be senior partner.
In 1887, Borden turned down an offer from Thompson (by then
Minister of Justice) to come to Ottawa as his deputy minister,
preferring instead to concentrate on growing his already successful
law practice. That same year, Borden was elected a member of
Council and was re-elected annually until 1894, when he became
Vice-President. In 1889, he became
head of his firm. Borden, Ritchie &
Chisholm was the premier law office
in the city and region.
Barry Cahill
CAPP
Borden’s years as a member of Council, Vice-President and President
encompassed a tense, difficult and uncertain time in the Society’s
existence – a period of fundamental transition from near powerlessness
to full empowerment. In those days, membership in the Society was
voluntary and before 1899, it appears that few lawyers from outside
Halifax belonged to it. Indeed the Society, perceived with good reason
at the time to be a quintessential Halifax ‘club’, was exceedingly
unpopular with lawyers from out of town.
Before 1885, the Society had no official relationship with the Bar.
That year, Council acquired limited powers to make rules and
regulations “for preserving and enforcing the honour and discipline
of the Bar,” but it could only enforce honour and discipline against
those barristers who were members of the Society. Any lawyer could
join the Society but none had to, nor did they automatically become
a member upon being called to the Bar.
While Vice-President, Borden was the driving force behind the
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