Peter Hogg


Peter Wardell Hogg was a New Zealand–born Canadian legal scholar and lawyer. He was best known as a leading authority on Canadian constitutional law, with the most academic citations in Supreme Court jurisprudence of any living scholar during his lifetime, according to Emmett Macfarlane of the University of Waterloo.

Early life and education

Born in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, on 12 March 1939, Hogg attended Nelson College from 1952 to 1956. He earned his LLB from Victoria University College, a constituent college of the University of New Zealand, in 1962, his LLM from Harvard University in 1963, and his PhD from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, in 1970.

Career

In 1970, he was appointed Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and was appointed Dean in 1998. In 2003 he accepted a position as scholar in residence at the law firm of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.
Hogg wrote several books, including Constitutional Law of Canada, the single most-cited book in decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada. In 2004, he was lead counsel for the Canadian government in the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage reference. Hogg also advised the committee that studied Marshall Rothstein's nomination to the Supreme Court, saying the creation of the committee was important to Canada's legal history and informing it that it should not ask political questions about abortion and same-sex marriage.
Hogg supported judicial restraint in cases dealing with disputes over Canadian federalism.
Hogg was the academic supervisor of Randal Graham during Graham's PhD studies at Osgoode Hall Law School.

Death

Hogg died on 4 February 2020.

Honours

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