Membership

Established in 1979, the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History publishes books on Canadian legal history, maintains an oral history archive, and presents legal history lectures and related events.

Since 1981, the Society has published 129 books on a wide range of topics, with six more to be released in 2026, bringing the total to 135. It has also recorded more than 700 oral histories from members of the legal profession.

In addition to receiving the annual book, members enjoy a regular newsletter with updates on in-person and hybrid events, discounted pricing on additional books, and access to special book sales throughout the year.

The Society offers five membership categories. Regular memberships are $75 and include the annual members’ book; student memberships are $25 and also include the book. An Individual Sustaining Membership, at $175, includes all membership benefits and a charitable tax receipt for a $100 donation.

The Society also offers the McMurtry Circle at $500. Members receive the annual members’ book, a certificate of appreciation signed by President the Honourable Paul Schabas, and a charitable tax receipt for $425.

Members’ Book 2026

Our members’ book for 2026 is Earl Cherniak, In the Courts: A Counsel’s Memoir. This book is a memoir of one of Ontario’s leading litigators over the last 50 years.

Optional Extras

We will also publish five optional extras in 2026. The first of these is David Berg, There is No Place for Sympathy Here: On Trial in the Belcher Islands. In the late summer of 1941, the Belcher Islands in Hudson’s Bay were the scene of a series of murder trials that became a cause célèbre in southern Canada.

Our second optional extra is Tom Mitchell and Reinhard Kramer, ‘P.S. Burn after Reading’: The Kellock-Taschereau Commission and Soviet Espionage in Canada. In September 1945, Soviet cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko defected to Canada, and revealed that Canadians were spying on their own country. Others have written about the Gouzenko affair, but this deeply-researched account brings forward new and crucial details about the legal proceedings.

Our third optional extra is Ian Radforth, Making a Killing: Murder and Life Insurance in 1890s Ontario. In late nineteenth-century Canada, the life insurance industry expanded impressively, offering policyholders a sense of greater security, but insurance fraud accompanied the expansion with murder sometimes being a deadly outcome. Radforth examines six legal cases in 1890s Ontario.

Our fourth optional extra is Robert Bothwell and Patricia McMahon, In the Shadow of the Manhattan Project: Radium, Larceny, and Secrecy at Eldorado. This book recounts a poorly understood chapter of Canadian history and offers a cautionary tale of how secrecy can undermine accountability.

Our final optional extra for 2026 is Colin  Campbell and Robert Raizenne, A History of Canadian Income Tax Volume 3: Tax Reform and the Modern Act. This final volume in the history of the emergence and development of the federal income tax in Canada addresses the extended tax reform exercise which produced the Income Tax Act which went into effect on January 1, 1972.