Lyman Duff

Who was Lyman Duff?

Sir Lyman Poore Duff, GCMG, PC, QC was the eighth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, was the longest serving justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and briefly served as Acting Governor General of Canada in 1931 and 1940.

Born in Meaford, Ontario to a Congregationalist minister, he received a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and metaphysics in 1887 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1889 from the University of Toronto. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1893. In 1901, he was created a Queen's Counsel. From 1890 to 1895, he was a mathematics teacher at Barrie Collegiate Institute. He was a lawyer in Fergus, Ontario and moved to Victoria, British Columbia in 1895 to practise law.