Jeremiah Travis (January 21, 1830 – April 27, 1911) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

politician and attorney. He was a member of the 1st Council of the Northwest Territories in the 1880s, serving as

stipendiary magistrate Stipendiary magistrates were magistrates that were paid for their work (they received a stipend). They existed in the judiciaries of the United Kingdom and those of several former British territories, where they sat in the lowest-level criminal ...

. He was an attorney and judge. Travis was born at Indiantown, a neighbourhood of present-day

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John () is a port#seaport, seaport city located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is Canada's oldest Municipal corporation, incorporated city, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign ...

. Travis graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1866, and was awarded the law school's foremost prize for dissertations.

Stipendiary Magistrate at the Town of Calgary

Travis, a

teetotaler Teetotalism is the practice of voluntarily abstaining from the consumption of alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler (US) or teetotaller (UK), or said to be ...

and supporter of the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...

, was a controversial figure in Calgary after his appointment as stipendiary magistrate of the Northwest Territories at the Town of Calgary on July 30, 1885. Travis was appalled by the open traffic of liquor, gambling and prostitution in Calgary despite legal prohibition in the Northwest Territories. There were several clashes between Travis and

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

George Murdoch and other town councillors. This culminated in the arrest and imprisonment of councillor Simon John Clarke to six month of hard labour, dismissal and imprisonment of Clerk of District Court Hugh Cayley, overturning the results of the January 1886 Calgary municipal election, removing Mayor Murdoch, barring him from contesting an election for two years and the appointment of a separate municipal council. Travis was subsequently placed on paid leave while Justice

Thomas Wardlaw Taylor Sir Thomas Wardlaw Taylor (March 25, 1833 – March 2, 1917) was a Canadian lawyer and judge. Born in Auchtermuchty, Scotland, he studied at Edinburgh University, and was admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1858. From 1872 to 1883 ...

was appointed by the federal government to investigate the situation. Justice Taylor's final report concluded "''...considering the excited state of public feeling, and the attitude of hostility in which Mr. Travis and a large number of inhabitants of Calgary and neighbourhood stand to one another, and for which both parties are blameable, I can express no other opinion, than that the Government ought not to continue Mr. Travis in the office of Stipendiary Magistrate at the Town of Calgary.''" Jeremiah Travis was suspended and the government waited for his official tenure to expire, after which he was pensioned off.

Later life

Travis died in Calgary on April 27, 1911.

Works

*Travis, Jeremiah (1866–67). ''The extent to which the common law is applied in determining what constitutes a crime, and the nature and degree of punishment consequent thereupon.'' American Law Reg. (Philadelphia), new ser., 6 (1866–67): 65–79, 129–46, 321–41. *Travis, Jeremiah (1884). ''A law Treatise on the Constitutional Powers of Parliament, and of the Local Legislatures, Under the British North America Act, 1867.'' Saint John. ASIN:B0067ROSSK *Travis, Jeremiah (1892). ''Commentaries on the Law of Sales and Collateral Subjects (Volume 1).'' Boston and Toronto *Travis, Jeremiah (1892). ''Commentaries on the law of Sales and Collateral Subjects (Volume 2).'' Boston and Toronto

References

1830 births 1911 deaths Politicians from Saint John, New Brunswick Politicians in the Northwest Territories Harvard Law School alumni Canadian magistrates {{NorthwestTerritories-politician-stub