Caesar Wright

Wright on his graduation from the University of Western Ontario in 1923

Wright on his graduation from the University of Western Ontario in 1923

Template:Use Canadian English Cecil Augustus Wright (July 2, 1904Template:SpndApril 24, 1967), often called Caesar Wright, was a Canadian jurist and law professor. He was among the first law professors to import the Harvard case method into Canadian legal education. He was also known for his confrontational and aggressive personality.

Early life and education

Cecil Augustus Wright was born in London, Ontario, on July 2, 1904, to Emily Rosena (Whitehall) and Thomas Augustus Wright. He received a BA from the University of Western Ontario in 1923, where he studied economics, history, and political science.

In 1926, at age 22, he graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School.

Career

Wright taught at Osgoode from 1927. During this time he championed many reforms of the legal education system, and in particular favoured a greater role for classroom instruction over the existing apprenticeship model.

In 1949, the Law Society of Upper Canada rejected his proposed reforms and Wright left Osgoode to become dean of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Together with other professors, including Bora Laskin, he shaped the undergraduate law program into a professional law school, which was eventually accredited by the Law Society in 1957. He remained with the university until his death on April 24, 1967, in Toronto. Before his death, he had resigned effective June 30 of that year.

According to the legal historian R. Blake Brown, Wright has been regarded as "the founder of Canadian tort law scholarship".

External links

• Canadian Encyclopedia entry
• Cecil A. Wright archival papers held at the University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services