View source for Alexander Kenneth Maclean

{{Short description|Canadian politician}}
{{other people||Alexander McLean (disambiguation)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}<!--as Alexander Maclean redirects here-->
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Honourable]]
| name                = Alexander Kenneth Maclean
| honorific-suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|size=100%}}
| image               = Alexander Kenneth Maclean.jpg
| constituency_MP     = [[Lunenburg (federal electoral district)|Lunenburg]]
| parliament          = Canadian
| predecessor         = [[Charles Edwin Kaulbach]]
| successor           = [[John Drew Sperry]]
| term_start          = 1904
| term_end            = 1911
| constituency_MP2    = [[Halifax (federal electoral district)|Halifax]]
| parliament2         = Canadian
| predecessor2        = 
| successor2          = 
| term_start2         = 1911
| term_end2           = 1923
| office3             = Member of the [[Nova Scotia House of Assembly]] for Lunenburg
| predecessor3        = 
| successor3          = 
| term_start3         = 1901
| term_end3           = 1904
| predecessor4        = 
| successor4          = 
| term_start4         = 1909
| term_end4           = 1911
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1869|10|18}}
| birth_place         = Upper Sydney, Nova Scotia
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1942|7|31|1869|10|18}}
| death_place         = 
| nationality         = 
| spouse              = 
| cabinet             = Minister Without Portfolio (1917-1920)
| party               = [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]]
| relations           = 
| children            = 
| residence           = 
| alma_mater          = 
| occupation          = 
| profession          = 
| religion            = 
}}
'''Alexander Kenneth Maclean''', {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC}} (October 18, 1869 {{endash}} July 31, 1942) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] politician and judge.

==Early life and education==
Born in Upper North Sydney, [[Cape Breton County]], [[Nova Scotia]], Maclean was educated at [[Pictou Academy]] and [[Dalhousie University]].

==Career==
A lawyer, practising in [[Lunenburg, Nova Scotia]], Maclean first ran unsuccessfully for the [[House of Commons of Canada]] in the [[1900 Canadian federal election|1900 federal election]] for the electoral district of [[Lunenburg (federal electoral district)|Lunenburg]]. In 1901, he was elected to the [[Nova Scotia House of Assembly]] for Lunenburg. A [[Nova Scotia Liberal Party|Nova Scotia Liberal]], he served until 1904 when he was elected to the House of Commons representing Lunenburg.

He resigned as an MP in 1909, when he was re-elected to the House of Assembly and was appointed Attorney General and Commissioner of Crown Lands in the cabinet of [[George Henry Murray]]. He served until 1911, when he was elected again to the House of Commons for the electoral district of [[City of Halifax|Halifax]]. As a result of the [[Conscription Crisis of 1917]] he [[crossed the floor]] on October 10, 1917, to support the [[Unionist Party of Canada|Unionist]] government of Sir [[Robert Laird Borden]] and was a [[minister without portfolio]] in the [[Canadian Cabinet|Cabinet]]. He left the government in 1920 and was re-elected as a Liberal in the [[1921 Canadian federal election|1921 general election]].

He resigned his seat in 1923 to become President of the [[Exchequer Court of Canada]], holding that position until his death. He also acted as an ''[[ad hoc]]'' judge at the [[Supreme Court of Canada]], sitting 67 times during his career.<ref>{{harvnb|Bushnell|1997|p=109}}</ref>

His most significant decision is considered to be the one he wrote in ''[[R. v. Eastern Terminal Elevator Co.]]'',<ref>[1924] ExCR 167</ref> which was affirmed by the Supreme Court. Maclean's decision is generally considered to be highly competent, where the issue was well thought out and analyzed, in contrast with [[Lyman Poore Duff|Duff J]]'s subsequent opinion at the SCC.<ref>{{harvnb|Bushnell|1997|p=106}}</ref>

== Electoral results ==
{{1921 Canadian federal election/Halifax}}
{{1917 Canadian federal election/Halifax}}
{{1911 Canadian federal election/Halifax}}
{{1908 Canadian federal election/Lunenburg}}
{{1904 Canadian federal election/Lunenburg}}
{{1900 Canadian federal election/Lunenburg}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |author= Ian Bushnell|title= The Federal Court of Canada: A History, 1875-1992|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=b5nYZTnI5MwC&pg=PA104|chapter = 11: The Maclean Years, 1923{{endash}}1942|access-date= 2013-01-06|year= 1997|publisher= [[University of Toronto Press]]|location= Toronto|isbn= 0-8020-4207-4|ref={{sfnref|Bushnell|1997}}}}

==External links==
* {{Canadian Parliament links|ID=14488}}
* [https://archive.org/details/canadianparliame00montuoft The Canadian Parliament; biographical sketches and photo-engravures of the senators and members of the House of Commons of Canada. Being the tenth Parliament, elected November 3, 1904]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maclean, Alexander}}
[[Category:1869 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:Liberal Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Liberal-Unionist MPs in Canada]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:Nova Scotia Liberal Party MLAs]]
[[Category:Judges of the Exchequer Court of Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly]]