H. ME GHER, XSG "An Admirer and Friend" of the Late Honourable NH

533 THE HONOURABLE N. 'H. ME GHER, X.S.G . "An Admirer and Friend" of the late Honourable N. H. Meagher, who was for many years a puisne judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, has published the following sketch and tribute in The New Freeman of St. John, N.B.:- By the death in the Halifax Infirmary on Friday morning, August 26, 1932 of the Honourable Nicholas Hogan Meagher, Knight of St. Gregory, the Maritime Provinces have lost one of the outstanding figures of his day. He was born at Mabou, Inverness County, N.S., on the 25th day of October, 1842, so that, had he lived two months longer, he should have 'completed ninety years of life. He came of sturdy Irish stock. His father, Daniel Meagher, was born in Killaloe, Kilkenny County, Ireland, about 1794, and came to America in the second decade of the nineteenth century. After a short stay in St. John's, Newfoundland, he came to Port Hood, N.S., about 1820. He remained there for three or four years and then moved to Mabou, where he married Mary O'Brien, and of this marriage there were born nine or ten children, the deceased jurist being the fifth in the order of birth. Daniel Meagher died in 1865. Nicholas Meagher attended the district school, where he received a good primary education. He frequently spoke to his friends in very high terms of his teachers, more particularly of a Scottish Presbyterian teacher named McQuarrie, who thoroughly grounded his young pupils in the elementary branches. Beyond this schooling, young Meagher received no formal education within school walls. At the age of fourteen years he left home to make his way in the world. He walked all the way from the Strait of Canso to the Albion Mines, now Stellarton, in quest of employment, and, after some three or four years, spent in, various pursuits, he became an assistant in a grocery store at Wind- sor, N.S., kept by a Mr. Manning. Later he was employed by Hiram' Blan- chard, Q.C., a prominent lawyer in Halifax and member of the Legislature. These were the days when all legal documents and pleadings had to be laboriously written and copied by hand. One day, it is related, there was an unusual rush in the law office, and the firm was short-handed . At noon, Mr. Blanchard asked young Meagher for a specimen of his handwriting,' following which he asked the lad to come to the office for the afternoon to give a helping hand. At the end of the day the young man was informed that thereafter his work was to be performed in the office; and thus began his connection with the law, which was destined to be his life pursuit. The next direction he received from his principals was that he should take up the study of the law. With his usual courage and industry, Mr. Meagher began to study the subjects required for the preliminary examination . These he mastered ; he passed his preliminary examination, prosecuted his studies in law, and in due course passed his final examinations and was admitted to the Bar. He began to study law in 1866, and was admitted to practice in 1872. The firm at that time was McC'ully & Blanchard, the partners in which were Hon. Jonathan McCully, Q.C., a member of the Senate of Can- ada, and Hon. Hiram Blanchard, Q.C.. a member of the Provincial Legis- lature. When Senator McCully was about to be appointed a judge of the 534 The Canadian Bar Review. [No. 8 Supreme Court, Mr. Meagher was not yet admitted . When the appointment came, Mr. McCully asked his partner not to take in a new partner until Mr. Meagher was admitted and to give the young lawyer the vacant place in the firm-a suggestion which was readily acceded to. The firm then became Blanchard and Meagher ; and its successive designations down to the time Mr. Meagher himself became a judge were: Meagher & Chisholm; Meagher, Chisholm & Ritchie; Meagher, Chisholm & Drysdale, and Meagher, Drysdale & Newcombe. On Mr. Blanchard's death in 1874, Mr. Meagher became head of the firm and so remained until 1890. His professional career was one of great success. In a few years, he became a leader at the bar of Nova Scotia, and that at a time when therei were such formidable competitors as S. G. Rigby, Jno. S. D. Thompson, R. L. Weatherbe, Wm. A. Henry, Wallace Graham, C. S. Harrington, H. McD. Henry, Robert Sedgewick and others. Mr. Meagher represented the United States government in the famous- international cases which grew out of the fisheries disputes between the United States and Canada. He was in fact on one side or another of nearly all the important cases which were considered in the Nova Scotia courts during his time at the Bar. Associated with him as partners were the late John M. Chisholm, the late Mr. Justice (J.J.,) Ritchie, the late Mr. Justice Drysdale and the late Mr. Justice Newcombe; and articled in his office as students at one or another were the late Mr. Justice Longley, the late judge Angus McGillivray, the late judge Barclay Webster, the late judge Daniel McNeil, the late W. T. Pipes, Premier of Nova Scotia, the late W. B. R. Ritchie, K.C., Hector McInnes, K.C., Mr. Justice Mellish, Chief Justice Morrison of British Columbia, Deputy At- torney-General R F. Mathers, K.C., W. W. Walsh, K.C., and many other lawyers of note. Mr. Meagher was made a Q.C. in 1881. On April 23rd, 1890, Mr. Meagher was appointed a puisne judge of the Supreme Court by the late Sir John Thompson, who was personally aware of his qualifications for that important position, and it is needless to say that the new judge did not disappoint the friends who predicted his success as a judge. He filled the position from 1890 to 1916. The law reports cover- ing that period disclose the thoroughness of his work, the soundness of his judgment and his ability to express himself in neat and perspicuous language. After his retirement from the Bench, he devoted himself largely to writing and historical study. For example, in 1927 he published a small book entitled "The Religious Warfare in Nova Scotia-18581860." This is the only accurate account published of the discreditable attempt of a polit- ical party to proscribe the Catholics. The judge prepared also four valu- able papers for the Nova Scotia Historical Society : one on his old friend and patron, Mr. Justice McCully, and three on Chief Justice Young. In 1925 the judge was created a Knight of St. Gregory. The late judge in 1870 married Honora A. Hogan, who pre-deceased him, Three sons and a daughter survive. The career of the late judge furnishes one of the best examples in our local history of what a young lad, with a limited education at the start, without any adventitious aid, with nothing but his indomitable courage, his good character, his great industry and his unimpeachable integrity, can ac- complish in the keen competitions of life. The young men of this day can find in this career a wholesome lesson ..

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