Elmer A. Driedger, (1913–1985) 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 ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and a leading authority on

statutory interpretation Statutory interpretation is the process by which courts interpret and apply legislation. Some amount of interpretation is often necessary when a case involves a statute. Sometimes the words of a statute have a plain and a straightforward meani ...

. He worked for the Canadian Department of Justice for over a quarter century, rising to Deputy Minister and later became a

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

Early life

Elmer A. Driedger was born in Osler, Saskatchewan, 14 January 1913, to a

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

family and grew up speaking German as well as English. He attended elementary school in Osler and high school in Rosthern.

Education

Driedger entered the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

in 1929, receiving his B.A. degree in 1932 and his LL.B. degree in 1934. He won a scholarship to the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg () is a public research university located in Marburg, Germany. It was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Prote ...

and studied there from 1934-1935: "The combination of his academic ability and German led to a scholarship at Marburg University, offered on somewhat the same criteria as the

Rhodes scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford in Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Established in 1902, it is ...

s" He attended Kiel University in 1935, but "political developments in Germany force his return to Canada a year so before the war."

Career

After returning from Germany to Depression-stricken Saskatchewan, he "ek dout a living in

Yorkton Yorkton is a city located in south-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is about north-west of Winnipeg and south-east of Saskatoon and is the sixth largest city in the province. Yorkton was founded in 1882 and incorporated as a city in 1928. ...

" and lectured in Company Law at the University of Saskatchewan. Driedger was hired in December 1940 as a librarian for 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 ...

, working under Chief Justice

Lyman Duff Sir Lyman Poore Duff, , PC(UK) (7 January 1865 – 26 April 1955) was a Canadian lawyer and judge who served as the eighth Chief Justice of Canada. He was the longest-serving justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, until Beverley McLachlin� ...

. He joined the Department of Justice in December 1941, where he became the Department's main legislative draftsman. He was appointed an Assistant Deputy Minister of Justice in 1954 and then Deputy Minister of Justice 1 July 1960. He retired from the Department in 1967. He was subsequently appointed Consul General of Canada to

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on 1 March 1967. Driedger joined Queen's University's Faculty of Law in August 1969. He then joined the

Faculty of Law in July 1970, retiring in June 1979. Driedger also established a course in legislative drafting funded by the federal government.

Professional involvement

*He was a member of the Statute Revision Commissions of 1949 and 1965. *He was a member of the National Council on Administration of Justice, 1958-1967. *He was a member of the Commissioners on Uniformity of Legislation, 1947-1967. *He was a member of the Law Societies of

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada () was a Province, part of The Canadas, British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the Province of Queb ...

and of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

*He was appointed a federal

King's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1949 *He assisted the

Commonwealth Secretariat The Commonwealth Secretariat is the main intergovernmental agency and central institution of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is responsible for facilitating co-operation between members; organising meetings, including the Commonwealth Heads of ...

in the setting up of its courses on legislative drafting and he advised the

Government of Australia The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national Executive (government), executive government of Australia, a federalism, federal Parliamentary system, parliamentary con ...

in establishing the Legislative Drafting Institutebr>
(now defunct).

Current influence

His principle of statutory interpretation is the

's preferred approach. The principle, which was originally laid out in his 1974 book, ''The Construction of Statutes'', was quoted verbatim in the court's decision in ''Rizzo & Rizzo Shoes Ltd.'': ''The Construction of Statutes'' became an influential text in Canadian legal circles. A second edition was published in 1983. Following Driedger's death, Ruth Sullivan (law professor), Ruth Sullivan, a law professor at the

, substantially revised Driedger's text in the third edition published in 1994. A fourth edition was published in 2002, and a fifth edition in 2008. Sullivan has become so closely associated with the updated edition of the book that it has since been retitled, ''Sullivan on the Construction of Statutes.''

Family

Driedger was married to Elsie Driedger and the couple had two sons.

Awards

Driedger was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

degree by the

in 1963.

Books and articles

*"Legislative Drafting" (1949) *"The Retrospective Operation of Statutes" (1950) *"Memorandum on the Drafting of Acts of Parliament and Subordinate Legislation" (1951) *"A New Approach to Statutory Interpretation" (1951) *"The Preparation of Legislation" (1953) *''The composition of legislation'' (1957) *"Subordinate Legislation" (1959) *"Constitutional Amendment in Canada" (1962) *''Legislative forms and precedents'' (1963) *"The Canadian Bill of Rights" (1968) *"Statute of Westminster and Constitutional Amendment" (1968) *''The Construction of Statutes'' (1974) *''The composition of legislation: legislative forms and precedents'' (1976) *"The Meaning and Effect of the Canadian Bill of Rights: A Draftsman's Viewpoint" (1977) *''Codification Des Actes De L'Amerique Du Nord Britannique, 1867 a 1975'', (ed) *"Statutes: Retroactive Reflections" (1978) *"Statutes: The Mischievous Literal Golden Rules." (1981) *''A manual of instructions for legislative and legal writing'' (1982) *"The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms" (1982) *''Construction of Statutes'' (2nd ed., 1983) cited 14 times by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Driedger, Elmer 1913 births 1985 deaths Canadian legal scholars 20th-century King's Counsel Academic staff of the University of Ottawa Canadian King's Counsel Place of death missing Canadian federal deputy ministers