Stephen Allan Scott (born May 25, 1940) is a Canadian law professor at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

Career

Scott was born in Montreal in 1940. He graduated from

Westmount High School Westmount High School () is a public co-educational anglophone secondary school located in Westmount, Quebec, Canada, located near Alexis Nihon Complex Shopping Mall. Westmount High is Quebec's first and only public school to offer Advanced ...

and graduated with first class honours from McGill University with a BA in 1961 with a BA in Economics and Political Science. Next he attended

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

on fellowships, before attending the

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

in 1963. He graduated from the law school with a BCL in 1966, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the ''

McGill Law Journal The ''McGill Law Journal'' is a student-run legal publication at McGill University Faculty of Law in Montreal. It is a not-for-profit corporation independent of the Faculty and it is managed exclusively by students. The ''Journal'' also publishes t ...

''. In 1969 he graduated with a D.Phil. from

. He became a Full Professor of Law in 1977 and has been a Professor-Emeritus since 2003. He represented clients before the provincial and federal courts of Canada throughout his career. Known as McGill's leading scholar on the Canadian Constitution. Scott has a history of making statements in favor of Canadian nationalism and the rights of anglophones and minorities in Quebec as well as statements about federal jurisdictional issues and specifically the

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part of the '' Constitution Act, 1982''. The ''Char ...

. In 1996 Scott made national news in Canada by arguing that if the

Province of Quebec Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

could separate from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, then parts of Quebec could choose to stay with Canada, or could separate from Quebec to form their own countries—including Quebec anglophones and native populations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Stephen Allan 1940 births Living people Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford Lawyers from Montreal Academic staff of the McGill University Faculty of Law McGill University Faculty of Law alumni McGill Law Journal editors