Mary Yvonne Carter (1923–2010) was a Saskatchewan judge. She is notable as the second female

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

appointed in Saskatchewan history (in 1960) and one of the earliest female law graduates in that province (in 1947). She was later elevated to the

Court of Queen's Bench for Saskatchewan The Court of King's Bench for Saskatchewan (Court of Queen's Bench for Saskatchewan during the reign of female monarchs) is the superior trial court for the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Structure and organization The court consists of 29 ...

, where she sat for many years.Beth Bilson
Profile of Mary Carter
. ''Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan''. Retrieved 2016-11-28.

History

Mary Carter was born Mary Munn on October 11, 1923 in Cromer, Manitoba. Her family also lived in the Manitoba towns of Elkhorn, Virden and Carberry, before moving to

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

in 1938.Obituary of Mary Carter

The StarPhoenix ''The StarPhoenix'' is a daily newspaper that serves Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a part of Postmedia Network. It has been referred to as a "sister newspaper" to the '' Leader-Post''. The ''StarPhoenix'' puts out six editions each we ...

, October 4–6, 2010. Retrieved 2016-12-02. Carter graduated from

Nutana Collegiate Nutana Collegiate is a high school located in the Nutana neighbourhood of central Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, serving students from grades 9 through 12. Nutana was the first public high school in Saskatoon and is part of the Saskatoon Public School Di ...

in 1941 and subsequently earned degrees in arts and law from 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 ...

. She was called to the Saskatchewan bar in 1948 and opened a law practice wit
Peter Makaroff
and her husband, Roger Carter. The Carters had met as fellow law students. Carter was appointed a provincial magistrate in 1960, being the second female so appointed in Saskatchewan, following the appointment of Tillie Taylor in 1959.Pernille Jakobsen,
Bench-Breakers? Women Judges in Prairie Canada 1916-1980
', p. 172. Doctoral dissertation in History, University of Calgary, 2014. Retrieved 2016-11-30. Both were appointed to sit in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

and were preceded in appointment by Regina juvenile court judges Ethel MacLachlan and

Margaret Burgess Margaret Jean Burgess (born 7 December 1949) is a former Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. She was the Minister for Housing and Welfare from 2012 to 2016, and the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Cunninghame South constit ...

.Pernelle Jakobsen,
Bench-Breakers? Women Judges in Prairie Canada 1916-1980
', p. 172. Doctoral dissertation in History, University of Calgary, 2014. Retrieved 2016-11-30. Ethel MacLachlan, a non-lawyer, was appointed the first juvenile court judge in Saskatchewan in 1917, being also the first woman in the province to be named a judge. MacLachlan was succeeded as a juvenile court judge by lawyer Margaret Burgess, appointed in 1935. In 1968, both Carter and Taylor, despite presiding in Saskatchewan, were featured in an ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'' article, "The Female View from the Magistrate's Bench: We're Still Putting People in Jail Because They're Poor"Jennine Locke
Female View from the Magistrate's Bench: We're Still Putting People in Jail Because They're Poor"
''

'', December 4, 1968. Retrieved 2016-12-05. Both were considered to be particularly sensitive to social justice issues due to being parents, as well as magistrates. At the time, Carter was the mother of six children and was sitting full-time during the day as a family court judge, prior to joining three other magistrates in the evening to sit in police court. The journalistic focus on Carter's maternal status, as opposed to her superior academic and professional accomplishments, was the subject of later criticism. Carter was elevated to the Saskatchewan

District Court District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations, some call them "small case court" usually as the lowest level of the hierarchy. These courts generally work under a higher court which exercises control over the lower co ...

in 1978, where her work became part of a pilot project to the development of a Unified Family Court, further to Saskatchewan'
''Unified Family Court Act''
passed that same year. She became a judge of the

in 1981 and sat in that superior court until 1998, when she retired, at the age of 75. Among her reported decisions is
Landrie v. Landrie
', in which she held that the provisions of the Canadian ''Divorce Act'' take precedence over the comparable provincial legislation, in relation to enforcement of spousal support orders, post-divorce. In

',(1992), 107 Sask. R. 246. she canvassed the jurisdiction of the court to vary an order under the Saskatchewan ''Matrimonial Property Act''. Mary Carter died in Saskatoon on October 1, 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Mary 1923 births 2010 deaths People from Saskatoon Judges in Saskatchewan Canadian women judges University of Saskatchewan College of Law alumni 20th-century women judges