David Lynch Scott

{{Short description|Canadian judge}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = David Lynch Scott | image = File:David Lynch Scott.jpg | image_size = | office1 = [[Court of Appeal of Alberta|Chief Justice of Alberta]] | term_start1 = 1921 | term_end1 = 1924 | predecessor1 = [[Horace Harvey]] | successor1 = [[George Bligh O'Connor]] | office2 = Mayor of [[Orangeville, Ontario|Orangeville]] | term_start2 = 1879 | term_end2 = 1880 | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | office3 = [[List of mayors of Regina, Saskatchewan|Mayor of Regina]] | term_start3 = 1884 | term_end3 = 1885 | predecessor3 = Position established | successor3 = [[Daniel Mowat]] | constituency3 = | party = | birth_date = {{birth date|1845|8|21}} | birth_place = [[Brampton, Ontario]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1924|7|26|1845|8|21}} | death_place = [[South Cooking Lake|Cooking Lake]], [[Alberta]] | occupation = Lawyer, politician, soldier | relations = | spouse = | children = | allegiance = [[Canadian Militia]] | service_years = 1866 - 1879 | battles = [[Fenian Raids]] | rank = Private<br>Sergeant<br>Lieutenant Colonel | unit = [[Peel and Dufferin Regiment|Brampton Infantry Company]]<br>[[Peel and Dufferin Regiment|36th Peel Regiment]] | awards = [[Canada General Service Medal]] }}

'''David Lynch Scott''' (21 August 1845 – 26 July 1924) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] [[Colonial Militia in Canada|militia officer]], [[lawyer]], and [[judge]]. He served as mayor of [[Orangeville, Ontario]], mayor of [[Regina, Saskatchewan]] and [[Chief Justice of Alberta]].

==Early life== He was born in [[Brampton, Ontario]], the son of John Scott and Mary Lynch. He studied law at [[Osgoode Hall]], was called to the Ontario bar in 1870 and practised in [[Brampton]] and Orangeville. In 1882, he moved to [[Regina, Saskatchewan]].

==Marriage== He married Mary McVittie on November 19, 1883 in [[Barrie, Ontario]].

==Career== He enlisted as a private in the [[Peel and Dufferin Regiment|36th (Peel) Battalion of Infantry]] during the [[Fenian raids|Fenian invasions]] of 1866. By the end of his military service in 1879, he had attained the rank of [[lieutenant-colonel]].<ref>[http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7860 Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'']</ref>

[[File:David L Scott.jpg|thumb|Lieutenant David Scott, 36th Peel Battalion, c.1870]]

Scott was mayor of Orangeville from 1879–1880, and in 1884-85 served as the first Mayor of Regina.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sasklawcourts.ca/index.php/david-l-scott |title=Saskatchewan Courts of Law website |access-date=2013-03-15 |archive-date=2017-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170402124901/http://sasklawcourts.ca/index.php/david-l-scott |url-status=dead }}</ref> Scott first rose to prominence as a lawyer when he acted as the junior counsel for the [[The Crown|crown]] in the prosecutions of [[Louis Riel]], [[Big Bear]], [[Poundmaker]] and those involved in the [[Frog Lake Massacre]] following the [[North-West Rebellion]] of 1885.

He was named [[Queen's Counsel]] in 1885 and was the first person admitted as an advocate of the Northwest Territories. Scott became a justice of the newly formed [[Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories]] in 1894, seated in [[Calgary, Alberta]]. In 1907 he became a member of the [[Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta|Supreme Court]] of the new [[Provinces and territories of Canada|province]] of [[Alberta]], seated in [[Edmonton, Alberta|Edmonton]].

When [[Chief Justice of Alberta]] [[Arthur Sifton]] resigned to become Premier, Scott thought he would be his replacement. However, [[Horace Harvey]] received the appointment. This frustrated Scott to the extent that he went from being an extremely active member of the bench, to a virtually non-existent member for the next decade. However, on 15 September 1921, he became the [[Chief Justice]] of Alberta and presided over the [[Alberta Court of Appeal|Supreme Court of Alberta Appellate Division]]. This reignited the feud with Harvey who had occupied the position of Chief Justice of Alberta since 1910.<ref>[http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=7860 Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'', ibid.]</ref> The feud was resolved in Scott's favour by the [[Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]] in [[Horace Harvey#Chief Justice of Alberta|''Reference re Chief Justice of Alberta'']].

==Later life== Scott was awarded an honorary [[Doctor of Laws]] from the [[University of Alberta]] in 1924.

==Death== He died in Cooking Lake, Alberta, where he had a summer cottage, at the age of 78 in 1924. He was interred in [[Edmonton, Alberta|Edmonton]].

==References== <references/>

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, David Lynch}} [[Category:1845 births]] [[Category:1924 deaths]] [[Category:Lawyers in Alberta]] [[Category:Judges in Alberta]] [[Category:Mayors of Regina, Saskatchewan]] [[Category:People from Brampton]] [[Category:19th-century King's Counsel]] [[Category:20th-century King's Counsel]] [[Category:Pre-Confederation Saskatchewan people]] [[Category:Judges in the Northwest Territories]] [[Category:Canadian King's Counsel]] [[Category:19th-century mayors of places in Ontario]] [[Category:19th-century mayors of places in Saskatchewan]]