Mabel Priscilla Penery French (4 June 1881 – 13 January 1955) was a Canadian lawyer and women's rights pioneer. She was the first woman to practice law in two separate Canadian provinces:

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

and

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Life

She was born in Portland Parish, New Brunswick, the daughter of Henry Steeves French, a city constable; and Ruth Penery. French graduated from King's College Law School, (then located in

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 ...

), with a

Bachelor of Civil Law Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated BCL or B.C.L.; ) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. The BCL originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; at Oxford, the BCL contin ...

degree in 1905, becoming the first woman in New Brunswick to receive that degree. When she sought entrance to the New Brunswick bar, she was refused, as legally she was not a

person A person (: people or persons, depending on context) is a being who has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations suc ...

and therefore, not entitled to practise law. William Henry Tuck was opposed to her admission. To protest this decision, she stopped paying her bills. Upon being sued for debt, her defence was that since she was not a person, she could not be sued, nor did she have to pay. Her defence failed, although she was ruled as a person and British subject. In 1907, due to pressure from women, including a campaign by the Canadian University Women's Club, the

Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick The Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick () is the deliberative assembly of the New Brunswick Legislature, in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. The assembly's seat is located in Fredericton. It was established in Saint John ''de jure'' ...

passed "An Act to Remove the Disability of Women so far as Relates to the Study and Practice of the Law". French was then admitted to the New Brunswick bar on April 1. French practised law in Saint John as partner in the firm ''Bustin & French'', alongside Stephen Bustin, often arguing in her cases that as women were not persons under the law, they could not be convicted under that law. She also presented a paper to the ICW regarding

child custody Child custody is a legal term regarding '' guardianship'' which is used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent or guardian and a child in that person's care. Child custody consists of ''legal custody'', which is the ri ...

and the law and assisted in drafting the 1909 women's suffrage bill. She moved to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia in 1910. The

Law Society of British Columbia The Law Society of British Columbia is the regulatory body for lawyers in British Columbia, Canada. Purpose The society's primary mandate under the ''Legal Profession Act'' is to uphold and protect the public interest in the administration of ...

at that time excluded women, but she won the right to enter after applying to the

Supreme Court of British Columbia The Supreme Court of British Columbia is the superior trial court for the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Court hears civil and criminal law cases as well as appeals from the Provincial Court of British Columbia. There are 90 judici ...

for a

writ of mandamus A writ of (; ) is a judicial remedy in the English and American common law system consisting of a court order that commands a government official or entity to perform an act it is legally required to perform as part of its official duties, o ...

, in 1912 to compel the society to accept her application. When it was refused, she appealed. Although Chief Justice

James Alexander MacDonald James Alexander MacDonald (October 1858 – December 20, 1939) was a lawyer, judge and political figure in British Columbia. He represented Rossland City in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1903 to 1909 as a Liberal. MacDo ...

was sympathetic, he ruled that British Columbia should follow the custom of England, which at the time did not allow women to practise. A similarly named act was passed by the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

government a short time later, just before the 1912 election. After the act was passed, French left the firm ''Russell, Russell & Hannington'' and set up a single practice in Vancouver in 1913. The next year, she emigrated from Canada and moved to Britain, along with one of the partners in her former firm.

Personal life

In 1923, she married Hugh Travis Clay, a

worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead (from Old English ''Wurðestede'', "enclosure place"), a village in the English county of Norfolk. T ...

manufacturer. They moved to live in

St. Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; ) is the capital of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. It is the most populous of the twelve parishes of Jersey, with a population of 35,822, over one-third of the island's total popul ...

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

. She died there on 13 January 1955, at home.

References

Notes

External links

Mabel French
at University New Brunswick Archives & Special Collections, 2014 * * Mary Jane Mossman
"Invisible" Constraints on Lawyering and Leadership: The Case of Women Lawyers
1988 20-2 ''

Ottawa Law Review The University of Ottawa Faculty of Law () is the law school at the University of Ottawa, located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Established in 1953, the faculty is today divided into Civil Law and Common Law sections, the two formally recognized l ...

'' 567, 1988

CanLII The Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII; ) is a non-profit organization created and funded by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada in 2001 on behalf of its 14 member societies. CanLII is a member of the Free Access to Law Movement, ...

Docs 10, retrieved on 2021-03-29 * * * * * widely reported, also as, , and * {{DEFAULTSORT:French, Mabel 1881 births 1955 deaths Canadian women lawyers Lawyers in New Brunswick Lawyers in British Columbia People from Saint John County, New Brunswick 20th-century Canadian women lawyers Canadian suffragists Immigrants to Jersey University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law alumni

Life

Personal life

See also

References

Notes

External links