George Morss Jukes Boswell

George Morss Jukes Boswell, QC, (1804 – 1889) was a lawyer and judge in Canada West, Province of Canada. Born in England of Scottish descent, his family emigrated to Upper Canada in 1822. He was married twice, with thirteen children.

Boswell was called to the bar of Upper Canada and had a very successful legal career, practising at Cobourg in the county of Northumberland. He was the first Queen's Counsel appointed by the government of the new Province of Canada in 1841.

He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada in 1841, serving one term as a moderate Reformer who supported responsible government. In 1845 he was appointed a County Court judge, a position he held until 1882. He died on August 29, 1889.

Family and early life

Boswell was born in Gosport, England on June 23, 1804. His grandfather and several great-uncles had served in the Royal Navy, while his father was a solicitor. His family was originally from Scotland, and was related to James Boswell, the biographer of Samuel Johnson. His family emigrated to Upper Canada in 1822.

In 1829, Boswell married Susannah Radcliffe in Buffalo, New York, with whom he had twelve children. One of their sons, Arthur Radcliffe Boswell, became a lawyer involved in municipal politics in Toronto, serving one term as mayor of Toronto.

Member of the Legislative Assembly

Boswell stood for election to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada in the general election of 1836, but was defeated.

In the Assembly, Boswell was a moderate reformer, but with a strong commitment to responsible government. In the first session in 1841, he voted in support of the new union and the policies of Governor General Lord Sydenham, and in opposition to the more "ultra" reformers led by Robert Baldwin. However, he also strongly challenged the main government leader, William Draper, to agree with the general principle of responsible government, namely that the executive government had to have the support of the legislative assembly. Draper's comments in reply were one of the first recognitions by the government of this point.

County Court judge, retirement and death

Boswell did not run again in the 1844 general election. The next year, he was appointed to the County Court for the combined counties of Northumberland and Durham. Five years after his appointment, he wrote an open letter to Baldwin, at that point the Attorney General for Canada West, outlining his thoughts on court reform. He suggested that the procedure in the County Courts could be simplified, thus reducing the costs to the litigants. He also suggested that the County Court jurisdiction be increased, to provide more expeditious justice than was the case in the Court of Queen's Bench.

Boswell remained on the court for thirty-seven years, finally retiring in 1882 at age 78. When he died in 1889, he was the last survivor of the first Parliament of the Province of Canada, and also the last survivor of the first group of Queen's Counsel appointed in 1841.