514 THE ADVOCATE
VOL. 80 PART 4 JULY 2022
their federal judicial careers on the County Court. The first British Columbia
judges of Jewish (Samuel Davies Schultz (1913 to 1917), of whom more
will be said later), South Asian (Wallace “Wally” Oppal (1981 to 1982 Westminster;
1982 to 1985 Vancouver)) and East Asian (Randall Wong (1981 to
1990 Vancouver23)) descent also served on the County Court, the latter two
prior to further elevations.24
Some of our most celebrated jurists, in addition to the above, started on
the County Court: the legendary J.O. Wilson, Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, and former appellate justice, being a leading example (1939 to 1944
Cariboo). Other appellate judges who started their careers on the County
Court include Arthur Edward Lord (1951 to 1955 Vancouver), Harry
Joseph Sullivan (1945 to 1956 Westminster), James A. Macdonald (1965 to
1966 Vancouver), E. Edward Hinkson (1968 to 1970 Vancouver), Henry
Hutcheon (1973 to 1974 Vancouver), David Hinds (1975 to 1980 Westminster),
and Richard Low (1977 to 1980 Prince Rupert; 1980 to 1990 Cariboo).
County Court judges always had a reputation for being more colourful
than their Supreme Court colleagues. Alfred Watts, Q.C., recounted two perhaps
apocryphal stories of the early County Court judges:
• “Peter O’Reilly, on arrival in the Kootenays: ‘Now boys there
must be no shooting, for if there is shooting there will surely be
hanging.’”
• “William George Cox, requiring two disputants to race to a claim
under dispute, winner take all.”25
This propensity did not disappear upon the arrival of legally trained
County Court judges.
The first jurist on the wall, William Norman Bole (1889 to 1907 Westminster),
certainly fell in that category. Like several early County Court
judges and magistrates, he was born in Ireland.26 He was the first barrister
to settle in New Westminster, and held land in Belcarra, which he named.27
Bole C.C.J. served as resident judge in Westminster County. He also sat
when needed in Vancouver, which in its early days had no resident judge.
During such visits, he apparently insisted on being referred to as a “Local
Judge of the Supreme Court” by counsel and the press. 28 Despite being an
energetic and respected leader of the bar and the community before his
appointment, Bole C.C.J. was apparently not loved by many Vancouver barristers,
who actively resisted this role.29 This led to a court challenge before
three Supreme Court justices, who, in 1900, concluded that Judge Bole had
no jurisdiction in the County of Vancouver.30 This led to the appointment of
Alexander Henderson, on June 6, 1901, as the first County Court judge for