The Walter S. Owen Chair in Law, the first endowed chair at the law school, was established in honour of The Hon. Walter S. Owen, O.C., Q.C., LL.D., K. St., one of Vancouver's most prominent lawyers, businessmen and philanthropists. Among his many services to the legal profession and the public, he was President of the Canadian Bar Association (1958-59), Treasurer of the Law Society of British Columbia (1964-65), and Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia (1973-78). He died in 1980, and the campaign to fund the Walter S. Owen Chair, which was already underway at that time, culminated in the formal establishment of the Chair in 1982.
The Walter S. Owen Lecture is a public expression by the Visiting Professor who holds the Chair, of the Faculty's wish to commemorate Mr. Owen, and to thank those whose contributions enabled the Chair to be endowed.
Walter S. Owen lecturers:
2020
The Hon. Malcolm Rowe, Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada
Topic: Virtue of Judicial Restraint
To be delivered January 27, 2020
2018
The Hon. Edwin Cameron, Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa
Topic: Constitutionalism in a Time of Affliction: South Africa's Democracy and AIDS
Delivered March 28, 2018
2017
Michael Crommelin, University of Melbourne
Topic: A Tale of Two Countries: Inherent Executive Power in Canada and Australia
Delivered March, 2017
2016
Andrew Mitchell, University of Melbourne
Topic: International Trade Law and International Investment Law: A Case Study of Plain Packaging
Delivered January, 2016
2015
Andrew Kenyon, University of Melbourne
Topic: Positive and Negative Free Speech
Delivered February, 2015
2014
John Gava, University of Adelaide Law School
Topics: Is Law Important? Lessons from the Formalist vs Contextualist Wars
Delivered October, 2014
Andrew Robertson, Melbourne Law School
Topic: Morality and Policy in the Law of Negligence
Delivered January, 2014
Glenn Cohen, Harvard Law School and Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics
Topic: Organs, Markets and Open Borders
Delivered January, 2014
2013
Imogen Goold, University of Oxford Faculty of Law
Topic: Must the Surgeon take the Pill? Negligence Duty in the Context of Cognitive Enhancement
Delivered October, 2013
2009
Professor Mary G. Condon, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
Topic: Canadian Securities, Regulation and the Global Financial Crisis
Delivered March, 2009
2007
Professor John Whyte, Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy and the University of Regina
Topic: Text, Context and Narrative in the Search for Constitutional Meaning
Delivered March, 2007
2006
The Hon. Frank Iacobucci, Torys LLP
Topic: The Struggle for Same Sex Equality: The Canadian Experience
Delivered: March, 2006
2003
Professor Alfred de Zayas
Topic: The Status of Guantánamo Bay and the Status of the Detainees
Delivered November, 2003
2002
Mr. Justice Allen M. Linden
Topic: Contribution of British Columbia to Canadian Tort Law
Delivered March, 2002
2001
Chancellor Allan McEachern, Chancellor of University of British Columbia
Topic: The Role of The Courts in Contemporary Society
Delivered November, 2001
1999
Professor Judy Fudge, Osgoode Hall Law School
Topic: New Wine into Old Bottles? Updating Legal Forms to Reflect Changing Employment Norms
Delivered March, 1999
1998
Sir Peter North, Oxford University
Topic: Law Reform: Problems and Pitfalls
Delivered September, 1998
1996
Professor Roderick Macdonald, McGill University
Topic: Three Centuries of Constitution-Making in Canada: Will there be a Fourth?
Delivered March, 1996
Professor Regina Graycar, University of New South Wales
Topic: Hoovering as a Hobby and Other Stories: Gendered Assessments of Personal Injury Damages
Delivered November, 1996
1993
Professor Denise Réaume, University of Toronto
Topic: Justice Between Cultures: The Protection of Cultural Affiliation
Delivered November, 1993
1991
Professor Donald H. Berman
Topic: Artificial Intelligence and Law: Machines Thinking Like Lawyers
Delivered October, 1991
1990
Professor Karl Klare, Northeastern University
Topic: Reinventing Democracy: Does Legal Theory have a Role?
Delivered November, 1990
1988
Professor Maurice Copithorne, University of British Columbia
Topic: Canada: Federation or Confederation?
Delivered March, 1998
1986
Professor Alice Erh-Soon Tay, University of Sydney
Topic: The Struggle for Law in China
Delivered November, 1986