Ronald St. John Macdonald

Ronald Saint John Macdonald ( born August 20, 1928 in Montreal, † September 7, 2006 in Halifax, Nova Scotia ) was a Canadian lawyer, particularly devoted to the maritime law and human rights. He was, among other things 1961-1972 as a professor at the University of Toronto and from 1972 to 1990 at Dalhousie University in Halifax, and served at both universities a time as dean. In addition, he worked from 1980 to 1998, so far the only non-European judge at the European Court of Human Rights. He was a member from 1979 to the Institut de Droit international, and received honorary doctorates from several universities as well as 2000 with the recording as a Companion in the Order of Canada, the highest civilian award in his home country.

Life

Ronald St. John Macdonald was born in 1928 as a descendant of Scottish emigrants to Montreal. He received a BA degree in 1949 at Saint Francis Xavier University in 1952 and a Bachelor of Laws from Dalhousie University in Halifax. In addition, he received in 1954 from the University of London and a year later at Harvard University each a Master of Laws.

His high school career, he completed from 1955 to 1957 as a lecturer and from 1957 to 1959 as a professor at York University from 1959 to 1961 as a professor at the University of Western Ontario, 1961 to 1972 as a professor at the University of Toronto, and from 1972 to 1990 as Professor of International Law at Dalhousie University. At the University of Toronto he worked from 1967 to 1972 as dean of the law school from 1972 to 1979, he worked in the same capacity at Dalhousie University. In 1990 he went back to the University of Toronto, where he remained as a Senior Scholar in Residence until 1994. He taught in addition to the Hague Academy of International Law and was the first professor of international law at the University of Beijing.

In addition to his academic work, he served as legal advisor to the Prime Minister and the Foreign Ministry in his home country and had in that capacity especially during the tenure of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau influence on Canadian foreign policy. He also represented Canada on several occasions in the General Assembly of the United Nations and at various international conferences. In the 1970s he supported the Government of the Republic of Cyprus as a special counsel in the review of the Constitution of the country after the occupation of the northern part of the island of Cyprus in July 1974 by Turkey in the framework of the Cyprus conflict.

From 1980 to 1998 he was also a judge at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. He has been nominated by Liechtenstein, which, like all parties to the European Convention on Human Rights is entitled to the appointment of a judge at the ECtHR item. In the history of the Court, he was previously the sole judge of a non - European country. From 1984 he was in addition to the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Ronald St. John Macdonald remained unmarried all his life, and died in 2006 at the age of 78 years in Halifax.

Scientific work

Focus of scientific activity by Ronald St. John Macdonald were in particular the law of the sea and the protection of human rights. He has published over 60 articles in professional journals, about one- third of them in the co-founders of Canadian Yearbook of International Law, and over 40 essays in anthologies, of which about two-thirds in Commemorative in honor of colleagues. He was also a self publisher or co-publisher of eleven anthologies.

Awards

Ronald St. John Macdonald was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1968 and incorporated in 1984 as an officer in the Order of Canada. In 2000 he received the appointment as Companion of the Order, the highest Canadian award for civilians. From the Canadian Council on International Law, where he presided as founding president, he was appointed Honorary President and 1988 in recognition of his life's work with the John E. Read Medal. In 1999, he received the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award of Law of the Canadian Bar Association. McGill University, Dalhousie University and Carleton University appointed him an honorary doctorate. From 1979 he was a member of the Institut de Droit International, the American Society of International Law in 1996 appointed him an honorary member.

After Ronald St. John Macdonald named the Ronald St. John MacDonald Award, which is awarded to the best team in Canada as part of the national selection round of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, as well as by the Canadian Council on International Law awarded to students Ronald St. John Macdonald Young Scholars Award.

Works (selection)

• The Arctic Frontier. Toronto 1966
• Canadian Perspectives on International Law and Organization. Toronto 1974 ( as co-editor )
• The International Law and Policy of Human Welfare. Alphen 1978 ( co-editor )
• The Structure and Process of International Law: Essays in Legal Philosophy, Doctrine and Theory. Dordrecht and Boston, 1986 ( co-editor )
• The European System for the Protection of Human Rights. Dordrecht and London, 1993 ( co-editor )
• Towards World Constitutionalism: Issues in the Legal Ordering of the World Community. Leiden 2005