John Godfrey Spragge

John Godfrey Spragge (September 6, 1806 – April 20, 1884) was a Canadian lawyer and judge.

John Godfrey Spragge
Chief Justice of Ontario
In office
1881–1884
Preceded byThomas Moss
Succeeded byJohn Hawkins Hagarty
Personal details
BornSeptember 6, 1806
New Cross, Lewisham, England
Died20 April 1884(1884-04-20) (aged 77)
Toronto, Ontario

Born in New Cross, Lewisham, England, he emigrated to Upper Canada in 1820 with his father, Joseph Spragge. He was called to the bar of Upper Canada in 1828 and practised law in York (now Toronto). In May 1881, he was appointed chief justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario (the title was changed later in the year to chief justice of Ontario). He served until his death in 1884.[1]

Spragge as a justice on Ontario Court of Appeal presided over McLaren v Caldwell where he held that Ontario law[2] made all streams, whether naturally or artificially floatable, public waterways.[1] On appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, the Court of Appeal's decision was reversed on the grounds that:

  • the streams in question were not floatable without the aid of artificial improvements,
  • the appellant had at common law the exclusive right to use his property as he pleased, and to prevent respondents from using as a highway the stream in question where it flowed through appellant’s private property,
  • as held in the 1863 decision in Boale v. Dickson,[3] the Ontario statute in question extends only to such streams as would, in their natural state, without improvements, during freshets, permit saw logs, timber, etc., to be floated down them.

References
  1. Morrison, Brian H. (1982). "Spragge, John Godfrey". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. XI (1881–1890) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
  2. An Act respecting Mills and Mill-Dams, C.S.U.C. 1859, c. 48 (originally enacted as An Act to amend an Act passed in the Parliament of Upper Canada in the ninth year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, intituled, An Act to provide for the construction of Aprons to Mill Dams over certain Streams in this Province, and to make further provision in respect thereof, S.Prov.C. 1849, c. 87 ), re-enacted as An Act respecting Rivers and Streams, R.S.O. 1877, c. 115
  3. Boale v. Dickson, 13 U.C.C.P. 337 (1863).


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