In view of the fact that this gentleman's name has a very fair chance of
immortality in this Province, it is to be regretted that so little is
accurately known about him, and that only the merest outline of his career
has come down to the present times. Many Canadians would gladly know
something more of the life of the first man who filled the important
position of Chief-Justice of Upper Canada, and the desire for such
knowledge is by no means confined to members of the legal profession. He
was the faithful friend and adviser of our first Lieutenant-Governor, and
it is doubtless to his legal acumen that we owe those eight wise statues
which were passed during the first session of our first Provincial
Parliament, which assembled at Newark on the 17th of September, 1792.
Nothing is definitely known concerning Chief-Justice Osgoode's ancestry.
A French-Canadian writer asserts that he was an illegitimate son of King
George the Third. No authority whatever is assigned in support of this
assertion, which probably rests upon no other basis than vague rumour.
Similar rumours have been current with respect to the paternity of other
persons who have been more or less conspicuous in Canada, and but little
importance should be attached to them. He was born in the month of March,
1754, and entered as a commoner at Christchurch College, Oxford, in 1770,
when he had nearly completed his sixteenth year. After a somewhat prolonged
attendance at this venerable seat of learning, he graduated and received
the degree of Master of Arts' in the month of July, 1777. Previous to
this time he had entered himself as a student at the Inner Temple, having
already been enrolled as a student on the books of Lincoln's Inn. He seems
at this time to have been possessed of some small means but not sufficient
for his support, and he pursued his professional studies with such avidity
as temporarily to undermine his health. He paid a short visit to the
Continent, and returned to his native land with restored physical and
mental vigour. In due course he was called to the Bar, and soon afterwards
published a technical work on the law of descent, which attracted some
notice from the profession. He soon became known as an erudite and
painstaking lawyer, whose opinions were entitled to respect, and who was
very expert as a special pleader. At the Bar he was less successful,
owing to an almost painful fastidiousness in his choice of words, which
frequently produced an embarrassing hesitation of speech. He seems to have
been a personal friend of Colonel Simcoe, even before that gentleman's
appointment as Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and their intimacy
may possibly have had something to do with Mr. Osgoode's appointment as
Chief-Justice of the new Province in the spring of 1792. He came over in
the same vessel with the Governor, who sailed on the 1st of May. Upon
reaching Upper Canada the Governor and staff, after a short stay at
Kingston, passed on to Newark (now Niagara). The Chief-Justice accompanied
the party, and took up his abode with them at Navy Hall, where he continued
to reside during the greater part of his stay in the Province which was
of less than three years' duration. The solitude of his position, and
his almost complete isolation from society, and from the surroundings of
civilized life seem to have been unbearable to his sensitive and social
nature. In 1795 he was appointed Chief-Justice of the Lower Province, where
he continued to occupy the Judicial Bench until 1801, when he resigned his
position, and returned to England. His services as Chief-Justice entitled
him to a pension of £800 per annum, which he continued to enjoy for rather
more than twenty-two years. For historical purposes, his career may be said
to have ceased with his resignation, as he never again emerged from
the seclusion of private life. He was several times requested to enter
Parliament, but declined to do so. During the four years immediately
succeeding his return to England he resided in the Temple. In 1804,
upon the conversion of Melbourue House--a mansion in the West End of
London--into the fashionable set of chambers known as "The Albany," he
took up his quarters there for the remainder of his life. Among other
distinguished men who resided there contemporaneously with him were
Lord Brougham and Lord Byron. The latter occupied the set of chambers
immediately adjoining those of the retired Chief-Justice, and the two
became personally acquainted with each other; though, considering the
diversity of their habits, it is not likely that any very close intimacy
was established between them. In conjunction with Sir William Grant, Mr.
Osgoode was appointed on several legal commissions. One of these consisted
of the codification of certain Imperial Statutes relating to the colonies.
Another commission in which he took part was an enquiry into the amount of
fees receivable by certain officials in the Court of King's Bench, which
enquiry was still pending at the time of his death. He lived very much
to himself, though he was sometimes seen in society. He died of acute
pneumonia on the 17th of January, 1824, in the seventieth year of his
age. One of his intimate friends has left the following estimate of his
character:--"His opinions were independent, but zealously loyal; nor were
they ever concealed, or the defence of them abandoned, when occasions
called them forth. His conviction of the excellence of the English
Constitution sometimes made him severe in the reproof of measures which he
thought injurious to it; but his politeness and good temper prevented any
disagreement even with those whose sentiments were most opposed to his own.
To estimate his character rightly, it was, however, necessary to know him
well; his first approaches being cold, amounting almost to dryness. But no
person admitted to his intimacy ever failed to conceive for him that esteem
which his conduct and conversation always tended to augment. He died in
affluent circumstances, the result of laudable prudence, without the
smallest taint of avarice or illiberal parsimony. On the contrary, he lived
generously, and though he never wasted his property, yet he never spared,
either to himself or friends, any reasonable indulgence; nor was he
backward in acts of charity or benevolence."
He was never married. There is a story about an attachment formed by him
to a young lady of Quebec, during his residence there. It is said that
the lady preferred a wealthier suitor, and that he never again became
heart-whole. This, like the other story above mentioned, rests upon mere
rumour, and is entitled to the credence attached to other rumours of a
similar nature. His name is perpetuated in this Province by that of the
stately Palace of Justice on Queen Street West, Toronto; also, by the name
of a township in the county of Carleton.