Born in Toronto, Ontario, he attended the Oakwood Collegiate Institute.

In 1961, he joined the faculty of the Osgoode Hall Law School as an Assistant Professor.

In 1995, he was appointed University Professor of Law and Political Science.

In 2004, he was appointed Commissioner leading the review of federal Labour Standards, Part III of the Canada Labour Code, in 2006 as Chair of the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions, and in 2010 as Chair of the Funding Review of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

He is the author of Without the Law: Administrative Justice and Legal Pluralism in Nineteenth Century England, published in 1985.