John White (d. 1800)
| John White | |
|---|---|
| 1st Treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada | |
|
In office 1797–1798 |
|
| Preceded by | none |
| Succeeded by | Robert Isaac Dey Gray |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Hicks Hall, Middlesex, England |
| Died | January 4, 1800 York, Upper Canada |
| Profession | Lawyer, politician, government minister |
John White (c. 1761 – January 4, 1800) was a lawyer and politician in Upper Canada. He was the first Attorney General for Upper Canada. He wrote and was responsible for the legislation of the new Province, which stemmed from the partition of Quebec in the Constitutional Act of 1791. His Act to limit slavery, which relied on Christian argument, was the first such enactment ever in the world.
He was born at Hicks Hall, Middlesex, England. He studied at the Inner Temple in London and was called to the bar in 1785. He was recommended to William Osgoode by his friend Samuel Shepherd as a possible attorney general for Upper Canada and was appointed in 1791. He arrived in 1792 at Kingston, where he was elected to the 1st Parliament of Upper Canada as the member for Leeds & Frontenac. He moved to Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake), where the government was located in September of the same year.
As attorney general for the province, he wrote the bill in 1793 which barred the introduction of additional slaves, and the legislation which established trial by jury, district courts and Court of the King's Bench. White played an important role in founding the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1797 and was its first treasurer. Legislation passed during the first four years of his tenure includes:
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