Lyman Duff

[2] Born in Meaford, Canada West (now Ontario) to a Congregationalist minister, Duff received a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and metaphysics from the University of Toronto in 1887.

[5] Duff was the first and only Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada to be appointed to the Imperial Privy Council.

He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George the following year[7] as a result of Prime Minister Richard Bennett's temporary suspension of the Nickle Resolution.

[citation needed] When Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir died in office on February 11, 1940, Chief Justice Duff became the Administrator of the Government for the second time.

[3] He held the office for nearly four months, until King George VI appointed Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone as Governor General on June 21, 1940.

[6] In 1942, Duff served as the sole member of a Royal Commission constituted to examine the Liberal government's conduct in relation to the defence of Hong Kong.

[10] Duff has been called a "master of trenchant and incisive English," who "wrote his opinions in a style which bears comparison with Holmes or Birkenhead.

"[13] Other writers have taken a less favourable view, instead arguing that Duff's reputation is largely unearned; his biographer concluded that he was not an original thinker, but essentially a "talented student and exponent of the law rather than a creator of it.

[15] As well, Lionel Schipper noted that, in reviewing Duff's judgments, it was: apparent that he has given certain factors very little consideration in formulating his decisions.

Bust of Duff in the Supreme Court of Canada building.
Duff poses with his bust at its official unveiling on September 5, 1947. In the photo (from left to right): J.L. Ilsley , J.C. McRuer , Duff, John T. Hackett, K.C., Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King and Chief Justice Thibaudeau Rinfret .