The Changing Common Law

I am very pleased and honoured to have been asked to participate in this centennial celebration. For me, it underlines the common bonds between the people of Canada and of the United States, who, in spite of various stresses and strains, manage to live side by side in peace and mutual respect. May we continue to set an example for the rest of the world. Until I read John Willis' very interesting history of Dalhousie Law School, I had not fully realized that I am here simply as another link in a long-standing relationship between Dalhousie and Harvard Law Schools. At the very beginning, in 1883, as Professor Willis tells us, three emissaries from Dalhousie visited the Harvard Law School, and, as a result, "there is a persistent local tradition to the effect that the School's founders drew their inspiration from the Harvard Law School." Indeed, in his inaugural address, Weldon "pa[id] a glowing tribute" to the law school in Cambridge, Massachusetts.