John McLaren

Professor Emeritus


Faculty of Law
University of Victoria

Professor McLaren joined the faculty as Lansdowne Professor of Law in 1987. Prior to his appointment he taught at the University of Saskatchewan from 1964 to 1971, the University of Windsor Faculty of Law from 1971 to 1975, and the University of Calgary from 1975 to 1987. He was Dean of Law at the University of Windsor, 1972 to 1975, and founding Dean of Law at the University of Calgary, 1975-1984. Professor McLaren has also been a Visiting Fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge and the Australian National University. His major areas of interest are Canadian and colonial legal history, legal education, legal theory and compensation law.

He has co-authored the Fraser Committee Report on Pornography and Prostitution in Canada, and co-edited (with Professor Foster) Law for the Elephant, Law for the Beaver: Essays in the Legal History of the North American West and Essays in the History of Canadian Law, Volume VI: British Columbia and the Yukon and (with H. Coward) Religious Conscience, the State and the Law: Historical Conflicts and Contemporary Significance, and (with Andrew Buck and Nancy Wright), Land and Freedom: Law, Property Rights and the British Diaspora. Professor McLaren teaches Colonial Legal History, Insurance Law, Torts, Legal Process and is a member of the Akitsiraq faculty. He was a founder of the Canadian Law and Society Association, served on the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, has been involved in law reform work on the civil law relating to sexual assault and is active in refugee work and dances the Morris.

Professor McLaren has retired and is professor emeritus.

  • LLB - St. Andrews
  • LLM - London
  • LLM - Michigan
  • LLD - Calgary