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‘Proof and pledge of stability’: Supreme Court of Canada marks 150 years

This year the Supreme Court of Canada is marking its 150th anniversary and plans a ceremonial opening Monday, the first since September 1986.
Legislation passed in spring 1875 created the court and William Buell Richards was sworn in that October, followed by a Nov. 18, 1875 banquet where Governor General Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood hailed it as `proof and pledge of the stability of our Confederation.`
The court’s art deco building just west of Parliament Hill, whose cornerstone Queen Elizabeth laid just months before World War II in 1939, saw the bench expand to nine judges by 1949.
Early anomalies included an empty first docket on Jan. 17, 1876, and for many years appeals could be made to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the United Kingdom.
This report was first published Oct. 5, 2025, when the chief justice stated judges' desire to help establish a government that will `maintain liberty and order, and which will preserve life and property.` She also said Canada is `rightly proud of being a land governed by the rule of law.

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