John Joseph Curran, (February 22, 1842 – October 1, 1909) 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 A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and

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 ...

. He was the country's first

Solicitor General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

between December 5, 1892, and October 17, 1895, and a member of the Conservative Party between February 8, 1883, and October 17, 1895.

Life

Born in Montreal, Canada East, Curran was one of eleven children born to Charles C. and Sarah Kennedy Curran. Charles was from

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, and Sarah from County Wexford. John attended Collège Ste-Marie and 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 ...

. He graduated from

McGill Law School The Faculty of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the oldest law school in Canada. 180 candidates are admitted for any given academic year. For the year 2021 class, the acce ...

in 1862 and was appointed to the

Bar of Quebec The Bar of Quebec () is the regulatory body for the practice of advocates in the Canadian province of Quebec and one of two legal regulatory bodies in the province. It was founded on May 30, 1849, as the Bar of Lower Canada (). History The begi ...

in 1863. In 1865 he married Mary Elizabeth Brennan, with whom he had seven children. Curran was named a

Queen'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 1882 and became a judge for the

Superior Court of Quebec The Superior Court of Quebec () is a superior trial court in the Province of Quebec, in Canada. It consists of 157 judges who are appointed by the federal government. Appeals from this court are taken to the Quebec Court of Appeal. Jurisdicti ...

in 1885. Curran served three terms in the Canadian House of Commons as a member for Montreal Centre. He was a professor of the law faculty and vice-dean at

Ottawa University Ottawa University (OU) is a private Baptist university with its main campus in Ottawa, Kansas. It also has a second residential campus in Surprise, Arizona, and adult campuses in the Kansas City and Milwaukee metropolitan areas, as well as onlin ...

. He was Solicitor-General in 1892 to 1895, and a contributor to various periodicals, and the ''Catholic Encyclopedia''."Curran, Hon. John Joseph", ''The Catholic Encyclopedia and Its Makers'', New York, the Encyclopedia Press, 1917, p. 37
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* Judges in Quebec Lawyers from Montreal Anglophone Quebec people Canadian non-fiction writers Canadian people of Irish descent Conservative Party of Canada (1867–1942) MPs Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Quebec Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Politicians from Montreal Writers from Montreal 1842 births 1909 deaths Solicitors general of Canada McGill University Faculty of Law alumni Contributors to the Catholic Encyclopedia Place of death missing Canadian King's Counsel 19th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada {{Conservative18671942-Quebec-MP-stub