Mabel Priscilla Penery French BCL (4 June 1881 – 13 January 1955)[1] was a Canadian lawyer and women's rights pioneer.
[3] She was born in Portland Parish, New Brunswick, the daughter of Henry Steeves French, a city constable; and Ruth Penery.
When she sought entrance to the New Brunswick bar, she was refused, as legally she was not a person and therefore, not entitled to practise law.
She also presented a paper to the ICW regarding child custody and the law[14] and assisted in drafting the 1909 women's suffrage bill.
Although Chief Justice James Alexander MacDonald was sympathetic, he ruled that British Columbia should follow the custom of England, which at the time[a] did not allow women to practise.