Thomas Albert Cromwell | |
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Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada | |
In office December 22, 2008 – September 1, 2016 |
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Nominated by | Stephen Harper |
Appointed by | Michaëlle Jean |
Preceded by | Michel Bastarache |
Succeeded by | Malcolm Rowe |
Personal details | |
Born |
Kingston, Ontario |
May 5, 1952
Thomas Albert Cromwell (born May 5, 1952) is a Canadian jurist and former Puisne Justice on the Supreme Court of Canada. After eleven years on the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, Cromwell was nominated to succeed Michel Bastarache on the Supreme Court of Canada by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and assumed office on December 22, 2008. Cromwell retired in September 2016, and was succeeded by Malcolm Rowe.
Known as a centrist on Canada's highest court, his reasoning as a provincial appellate judge in R v Marshall; R v Bernard was adopted by unanimous decision in the landmark Aboriginal title case of Tsilhqot'in Nation v British Columbia in 2014 during his tenure.
Cromwell was born in Kingston, Ontario. He attended Queen's University where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1973 and a law degree in 1976. He then earned a Bachelor of Civil Law degree from the University of Oxford in 1977. He also earned an ARCT Diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in 1974.
He practised law in Kingston from 1979 to 1982 and was a sessional lecturer in civil procedure at the Queen's Law School from 1980 to 1982. He was a professor of law at Dalhousie University from 1982 to 1992 and again from 1995 to 1997.