Robert James Sharpe, OC, FRSC (born December 4, 1945) is 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 ...

lawyer, author, academic, and judge. He was dean of the

University of Toronto Faculty of Law The University of Toronto Faculty of Law (U of T Law, UToronto Law) is the law school of the University of Toronto, located at the University of Toronto#St. George campus, St. George campus in Downtown Toronto. It is the top ranked common law facu ...

from 1990 to 1995 and a judge of the

Court of Appeal for Ontario The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently mistakenly referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal) (ONCA is the abbreviation for its neutral citation) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Ha ...

from 1999 to 2020.

Early life

Robert James Sharpe was born on December 4, 1945, in

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...

, Ontario, to Eleanor Jane (Cooper) and Ira Sutherland Sharpe. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

in 1966, a Bachelor of Laws from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

in 1970, and a DPhil from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

in 1974.

Legal career

He was called to the bar of Ontario in 1974 and practised law with the firm of MacKinnon, McTaggart (later McTaggart, Potts, Stone & Herridge) in the area of civil litigation. He taught at the

from 1976 to 1988. From 1988 to 1990, he was the Executive Legal Officer at the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

under Chief Justice Brian Dickson. From 1990 to 1995, he was the Dean of the

. In 1995, he was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice (General Division) (now the Superior Court of Justice). In 1999, he was appointed to the

. From 2011 to 2021, he was Visiting Professor at the

. Sharpe retired from the judiciary on February 28, 2020. After leaving the bench, he joined Arbitration Place and rejoined the

as Distinguished Jurist in Residence. He was President of th
Canadian Institute for Advanced Legal Studies
from 2014 to 2020, and is currently the President of th
Osgoode Society for Legal History.

Selected works

* ''The Law of Habeas Corpus'' (1976) *
Injunctions and Specific Performance
' (1983) (Canadian Bar Association’
Walter Owen Book Prize
(5th ed, 2017) * ''Charter Litigation'' (1987) (Editor) *
The Last Day, The Last Hour: The Currie Libel Trial
' (1988)
''The Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (with Kent Roach)
(7th ed 2021)
''Brian Dickson: A Judge’s Journey'' (with Kent Roach)
(2003)
John Wesley Dafoe Prize

''The Persons Case: The Origins and Legacy of the Fight for Legal Personhood'' (with Patricia McMahon)
(2007) (Canadian Law and Society Book Prize) *
The Lazier Murder: Prince Edward County, 1884
' (2011) (Ontario Historical Association Fred Landon Book Prize) *
Good Judgment: Making Judicial Decisions
' (2018)

Notable judgments

In 2001, Robert Sharpe wrote th
reasons of the Ontario Court of Appeal that recognized the distinctive legal rights of Métis people
In November 2007, the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

reported that "In a decision ritten by Justice Sharpe on behalf of a panel comprising himself and Justices Karen Weiler and Robert Blair/nowiki> described as a major breakthrough for freedom of the press in Canada, the

Ontario Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently mistakenly referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal) (ONCA is the abbreviation for its neutral citation) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode H ...

] chiselled out what it calls a "new and distinctive" defence for journalists reporting on matters of public significance. In 2012, he wrote the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision that established the right to sue for invasion of privacy.

Honours and awards

Sharpe was elected a fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

in 1991. He was awarded the

Ontario Bar Association The Ontario Bar Association (OBA) is a bar association representing more than 16,000 lawyers, judges, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Ontario. It is also a branch of the Canadian Bar Association. Approximately two-thirds of a ...

Distinguished Service Award in 2005, and in 2008 he was awarded the Mundell Medal which celebrates excellence in legal writing by Ontario authors who have made a distinguished contribution to law and letters. In 2021, he received honorary doctorate degrees from the

Law Society of Ontario The Law Society of Ontario (LSO; ) is the law society responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers and paralegals in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 1797 as the Law Society of Upper Canada (LS ...

and the

University of Windsor The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...

. And in 2020 he was recognized with a Distinguished Alumni Award from the

. Sharpe was appointed to the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in June 2023, with the rank of Officer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharpe, Robert 1945 births Living people Alumni of the University of Oxford Canadian legal writers Canadian university and college faculty deans Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Justices of the Court of Appeal for Ontario Judges in Ontario Lawyers in Ontario Writers from Brantford Academic staff of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law University of Western Ontario alumni University of Toronto Faculty of Law alumni Officers of the Order of Canada Writers from Toronto