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Between 2005 and 2008, Arthur headed the Canadian team in an international
project undertaken jointly by the ULCC with its U.S. and Mexican
counterpart organizations to develop a harmonized legal framework for
unincorporated non-profit associations.
In 1990, he provided the vision that led to the creation of the Federation
of Law Reform Agencies of Canada and was its chair from 1991 to 1995. It
sponsored workshops to bring law reform staff together from across the
country, and also organized a meeting of international law reformers in
conjunction with the 1996 Commonwealth Law Conference.
At an important time in the 1990s, at the inception of efforts to rid legal
writing of its 19th century circumlocutions, Arthur was a board member of
the Plain Language Institute of B.C., a pioneer in promoting clarity and simplicity
in legal documents and in written communications generally, a
cause he strongly supported.
He was particularly associated with reform of the law of personal property
security, initially as a member of Professor Jacob Zeigel’s special committee
on a model Uniform Personal Property Security Act (in the 1970s),
which developed the prototype on which the PPSA of many provinces
(including British Columbia) was based. In 1991, he helped to establish the
Canadian Conference on Personal Property Security Law. And he was a
member of the consultative committee (1992–1996) that advised the B.C.
government on implementing the PPSA in British Columbia.
Arthur was also a member of the Consumers’ Association of Canada, B.C.
Division (1972–1977), an ex officio member of the Canadian Bar Association’s
Provincial Council (B.C.) (1984–1997), the regional editor (B.C.) of the
Canadian Business Law Journal (in the early 2000s) and, until his death, a
member of the jury that recommended prize recipients for the Walter Owen
Book Prize. After the enactment of the 1997 Builders Lien Act, Arthur wrote
Questions & Answers on the New Builders Lien Act, an information resource
hosted on BCLI’s website that continues to be consulted by industry and the
public. Following BCLI’s move to the UBC Faculty of Law premises in 2000,
Arthur taught an upper-year course on law reform as an adjunct faculty
member.
Arthur was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1989.
Arthur was the principal author of numerous law reform study papers
and reports that ultimately reshaped important areas of the law of British
Columbia. In debate, he was fierce but fair, and to develop the best policy
possible, he was usually the one to ask the difficult questions. Arthur’s
sometimes gruff and distant persona concealed a warm personality, full of
humour. A short discussion with Arthur on just about any topic quickly dis-