Roland Ritchie's brother, Charles Ritchie was an important Canadian diplomat and diarist.
13 Facts About Roland Ritchie
1.
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Roland Ritchie received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of King's College, Halifax, in 1930.
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Roland Ritchie then received a Rhodes scholarship and read law at Pembroke College, Oxford University, receiving an additional Bachelor of Arts degree, in law, in 1932.
4.
Roland Ritchie was called to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1934, but his law practice was interrupted by World War II.
5.
Roland Ritchie joined the Royal Canadian Artillery, and eventually served as Assistant Deputy Judge Advocate with the Third Canadian Division from 1941 to 1944.
6.
Roland Ritchie was a lecturer on insurance law at Dalhousie University, and acted as counsel to the royal commission on the terms of Newfoundland's union with Canada in 1949.
7.
In 1959, without any previous judicial experience, Roland Ritchie was appointed by the Diefenbaker government to replace Ivan Rand on the Supreme Court of Canada.
8.
Roland Ritchie's judgements were typically conservative, which often put him on side with Ronald Martland and Wilfred Judson.
9.
Roland Ritchie is best known for a pair of conflicting decisions concerning the Canadian Bill of Rights: R v Drybones and Attorney General of Canada v Lavell.
10.
In Drybones, Roland Ritchie wrote the majority decision for the Court, holding that a provision of the Indian Act was inoperative because it conflicted with the Canadian Bill of Rights.
11.
However, in Lavell, Roland Ritchie wrote the majority decision holding that a federal statute such as the Indian Act could not be held inoperative because of the Bill of Rights.
12.
Roland Ritchie served on the Court until his retirement in 1984.
13.
Roland Ritchie retired due to poor health at age 74, a year before the mandatory retirement age of 75.