As I wrap up Throwback Thursday Family Law month, I had to include this little piece of history I learned about one day while going through old Statutes of Canada. This may be old news to many of you, but I thought it was quite interesting. As too did Library and Archives Canada, since I’m going to shamelessly steal text from them for this:

The first federal Divorce Act was passed by Parliament in 1968, establishing a uniform divorce law across Canada. Before that, there were different laws relating to divorce in different provinces.

From 1840 to 1968, many divorces in Canada were granted by private acts of the Parliament of Canada. Before 1867, only five divorce acts were passed and published either in the Statutes of the Province of Canada or in the Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada.

From 1867 to 1968, in some provinces a person wishing to obtain a divorce was first required to place a notice of intent to petition the government for an Act of Divorce in the Canada Gazette and in two newspapers in the district or county where the petitioner resided. It was to appear for a six-month period.

The petition would contain details such as the date and place of the marriage, and events surrounding the demise of the marriage. In the case of adultery or bigamy, a co-respondent was often named. If the petition was allowed, Parliament would pass an Act of Divorce nullifying the marriage.

Between 1867 and 1963, a transcript of the Act was published in the Statutes of Canada for the current year. Between 1964 and 1968, the transcript was published in the Journals of the Senate of Canada.

For more from Library and Archives Canada, click here.

If you’re like me, you probably find it hard to believe 2007 was a full decade ago. For our last look back at past Annual Institute of Family Law agendas, here is a look at the line-up from the 2007 conference.

As mentioned last week, this month for Throwback Thursday, we’re looking at past family law conferences put on by the CCLA. This week’s entry is the program from our first official Annual Institute of Family Law. This seminar was held in May 1992, and though this schedule doesn’t indicate the location, it was held at the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa. Fun fact: this conference was actually jointly sponsored by the Faculty of Law at the University.

This month, we’ll be holding the 26th Annual Institute of Family Law in Montebello. Accordingly, this month’s Throwbacks will feature programs from past family law conferences. You might be thinking at this point, however, that the title of this post says 1983, which is most definitely older than 26 years. And you’d be right!

A few weeks ago, I noticed a binder for the “Family Law Seminar” from 1983 on the shelf. If anyone can remember from the time what this was about, please leave a comment below! At any rate, what is clear is that before our Annual Institute of Family Law got started in 1992, we at least had this two-day seminar in May 1983 in Mont Ste-Marie. Here’s a look at the agenda:

My love for old pictures of Ottawa has been documented on this blog before, and I’m happy to report that I’m at it again! I stumbled upon these pictures of what used occupy the land the current Courthouse sits on, and I’m fascinated by the difference!

Certainly some of our readers will remember these, known as the Cartier Square buildings. They were constructed at the start of WWII and were specifically intended to be temporary buildings. Temporary in the case of the buildings on this lot lasted until 1980, when these were demolished. I particularly like the second photo above, looking at the front of the building (of what today would be the front of the Courthouse), from the position of Elgin and Nepean. A future post of what pre-dates Place Bell is certainly in the future!

If you’d like to learn more about Ottawa’s temporary buildings, I suggest this article from Urbsite. (In fact, I recommend spending a lot more time on Urbsite, if you’re into old Ottawa!)