David Watt was a

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

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 2007 to 2021.

Early life

He was educated at the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

where he received a Bachelor of Arts in French and Criminology in 1967. He received an LL.B from Queen's University Law School and was a Silver Medalist. Watt was called to the Bar in 1972. From 1972-1977 Watt worked as a lawyer, and was the Deputy Director of the Criminal Appeals and Special Prosecutions Branch. From 1977-1985 was Senior

Crown Counsel Crown counsel are lawyers, generally in Common Law jurisdictions, who provide advice to the government and acts as prosecutors in cases. In various jurisdictions their title can vary and they could also be known as the Queen's Advocate, King's Adv ...

with the Ministry of the

Attorney General of Ontario The attorney general of Ontario is the Attorney general, chief legal adviser to Monarchy in Ontario, His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario and, by extension, the Government of Ontario. The attorney general is a senior member of the Executi ...

and was responsible for argument of criminal

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

s before 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 ...

and

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 ...

Career

In 1985 Watt was appointed a Judge of the

Supreme Court of Ontario The Supreme Court of Ontario was a superior court of the Canadian province of Ontario. Created in 1881 pursuant to the Ontario Judicature Act (1881), the Supreme Court of Ontario had two branches: the High Court of Justice Division and the Appell ...

also now known as the Superior Court of Justice. He presided primarily over homicide and other complex criminal cases. Watt authored the Court’s Criminal Proceeding Rules and also authored the Ontario Specimen Jury Instructions. Then on October 12, 2007 David Watt was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario. From 1985-2005 Watt was a professor of Law at the

Dalhousie Law School The Schulich School of Law is the law school of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Founded in 1883 as Dalhousie Law School, it is the oldest university-based common law school in Canada. It adopted its current name in October ...

and also an adjunct professor at the

Osgoode Hall Law School Osgoode Hall Law School, commonly shortened to Osgoode, is the law school of York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Law Commission of Ontario, the ''Journal of Law and Social Policy'', and the ''Osgoode Hall Law Journal ...

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

. From 1990-1993 Watt lectured at the Faculty of Law at 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 ...

and taught courses in criminal procedure, advanced criminal law, advanced evidence, trial practice, and appellate remedies. After being appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Watt's writing style shifted to include passages that were similar in style to

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

novels. Watt is also the author of ''Tremeear’s Annotated Criminal Code'', ''Watt’s Manual of Criminal Evidence'', ''Watt’s Manual of Criminal Jury Instructions'', ''Helping Jurors Understand'', and ''Criminal Law Precedents'' which were published by Carswell. In 1997 David Watt handed down a sentence of 2 years to convicted pedophile Gordon Stuckless. Two days later, victim and whistleblower Martin Kruze died by suicide. Justice Watt retired from the Court of Appeal of Ontario and had his swearing out ceremony on his 75th birthday on November 2, 2021.

External links

"Ontario Judicial Appointments Announced." The Department of Justice Canada. Accessed on January 14, 2009.

"Law Society of Upper Canada, Call to the Bar ceremony." Roy Thomson Hall July 21, 2005. Recipient Honourable David Watt.

"Model Jury Instruction In Criminal Matter." Canadian Judicial Council. Chief Justice Antonio Lamer. Accessed January 14, 2009.

Law Society of Upper Canada. Accessed January 14, 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watt, David Living people Judges in Ontario Year of birth missing (living people)