Horace Harvey

Horace Harvey KC (October 1, 1863 – September 9, 1949) was a lawyer, jurist, and a Chief Justice of Alberta, Canada.

[1] In 1896 he was Registrar of Land Titles for Southern Alberta before his appointment as the Deputy Attorney General of the Northwest Territories in 1900, requiring him to move to Regina, Assiniboia.

When Sifton became the Premier of the province in 1910, Harvey was elevated to the position of Chief Justice of Alberta by letters patent issued October 12, 1910.

Instead of Harvey, Meighen appointed the conservative Scott by federal letters patent dated September 15, 1921.

Although Scott had declined to make an appearance before the Supreme Court, he appealed the decision to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

[9] Lord Atkinson delivered the decision for the Committee in 1923, overturning the Supreme Court and finding in favour of Scott.

Harvey was then appointed to Scott's position as Chief Justice of Alberta on August 27, 1924, by Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.

Norman Earl Lewis was conscripted and hired lawyer and future Prime Minister R. B. Bennett to apply for a writ of habeas corpus in the Supreme Court of Alberta.

The Court issued a writ of attachment against Lieutenant-Colonel Moore, the commanding officer at Sarcee Barracks in Calgary, for failure to comply with the order to produce the conscripts.

However, the sheriff on his way to arrest the officer was met by military resistance, specifically newly set up machine guns around the headquarters.

[13] A similar Ontario case reached the Supreme Court of Canada the following week, which upheld the order-in-council as being constitutionally valid on July 19, 1918.

[16] Harvey was the longest serving Chief Justice, having sat on the bench for 44 years, longer than any other judge in Alberta's history.