The Honourable Robert Smith

Judge of the Supreme Court of Canada from May 18, 1927 until December 6, 1933.

Robert Smith was born in Lanark County, Canada West (Ontario), on December 7, 1858. He was the son of William Smith and Jean Neilson. In 1880 he enrolled with the Law Society of Upper Canada as a law student. Called to the bar in 1885, he settled in Cornwall, Ontario, where he practised law for 37 years. As director, secretary-treasurer and one of the principal shareholders in the Montreal and Cornwall Navigation Company Ltd., he helped promote transportation on the St. Lawrence River. In 1908 he was elected to the House of Commons and was a member of Parliament for three years. He became a judge in 1922, when he was appointed to the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Ontario. The following year, he was elevated to the Appellate Division, and in 1926 he was asked to sit on the Supreme Court of Canada as an ad hoc judge. On May 18, 1927, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. He served on the Court for six years before his retirement on December 7, 1933. Justice Smith died on March 18, 1942, at the age of 83.