McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
William Campbell James Meredith Fonds
Fonds
1 m of textual records
W. C. J. Meredith, the son of Frederick Meredith, was born in Montréal and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he earned a degree in law in 1925. Admitted to the Bar of Québec in 1927, he practiced with the Montréal firm of Meredith, Holden, Heward and Holden, and was appointed K.C. in 1942. Meredith was the author of studies on criminal insanity, automobile accidents, and medical malpractice. He also served as a member of the Council for the Survey of the Legal Profession in Canada. He was appointed Dean of Law in 1950, Macdonald Professor of Law in 1955, and director of the Institute of Air and Space Law in 1958.
Meredith's papers relate almost exclusively to his professional, philanthrophic and leisure activities prior to his appointment as Dean of Law. The largest series comprises correspondence files (1927-1945) dealing with his professional expenses, memberships, insurance, investments, and personal finances. Other professional papers include files on the survey of the Legal Profession in Canada 1945-1946, and an address to the Junior Bar Association on automobile accident law (1945). The philanthropic aspect of his work is documented by files on the Inns of Court Fund, 1947-1948; and particularly on Bishop's University, of which Meredith was a trustee, 1943-1950. Meredith was chairman of the Québec Committee, the Selwyn House School Association, 1945-1948. Correspondence regarding amateur radio licencing, transmission, and equipment reflects Meredith's favourite hobby, 1945-1947. The only material relating to his teaching career is an introductory lecture to first-year students entitled "The Legal Profession".
Originals