close encounters of the judicial kind
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only in Canada could a person be riding the subway and find themselves beside a Supreme Court justice... i was transferring from the Bloor-Danforth line of the TTC at Yonge-Bloor station, and i did a double-take as i passed by the ticket booth and saw a seemingly familiar face... i shook my head and laughed, thinking to myself, "he wouldn't be riding the subway"... the story gets really weird when i realized he got on the same train as i did (only later did i stop to wonder, "how did such an old guy get down so fast?")... it's too bad that i was only on for 2 stops because it took me about that long to a) figure out that it really was the Honourable Peter Cory riding the southbound subway on the Yonge line, and b) to decide to at least say 'hello' instead of staring like a weirdo... of course, only a dork of a law student like me would get excited about seeing a judge in person (i mean, we weren't far removed from yorkville, but i wouldn't have been as curious even if a B-list actor had been on the train)...
i think he would've thought i was a bigger freak for going up to him, except i was wearing my Osgoode Law hoodie... i think that got his attention, and i smiled and nodded when we finally made eye contact (OK, even i admit this is starting to sound creepy)... i went up to him before my stop and said, "i bet i'm the only person here that recognizes a Supreme Court justice is on the train"... he laughed and said, "you're probably right"... i wished him well, knowing that i'd probably see him again at another conference or some other function soon anyway (after all, it was only a few weeks ago that i saw him at the s. 15 Charter conference)...
only in Canada, i say... i guess that just goes to show how small this country really is... also goes to show how safe this place is, that a Supreme Court judge (albeit a retired one) can ride public transit -- let alone, without Secret Service (or CSIS, in our case, i guess) detail... finally, i think it shows how oblivious the rest of society is to our profession and how esoteric the "law" really is... we address judges as "Your Honour" or "Your Lordship" and esteem them for being so "learned", but really, the average person wouldn't be able to tell Justice Cory from any other grandpa-figure in a suit riding the subway... while judges make decrees and interpret (some say "rewrite") the laws that affect our day-to-day existence, the rest of society just continues on its merry way... in Canada (to our credit, i think), we haven't imputed much, if any, celebrity status on public figures...
anyway, that's my anecdote for the day... it probably would've been a doozy of a story to share during interview week... i know it'll make great fodder for cocktail parties and what-not... talk about an interesting day: i start the morning accepting a position to work at a government law office, and i end the evening semi-stalking a judge... this law thing is really taking over...
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only in Canada could a person be riding the subway and find themselves beside a Supreme Court justice... i was transferring from the Bloor-Danforth line of the TTC at Yonge-Bloor station, and i did a double-take as i passed by the ticket booth and saw a seemingly familiar face... i shook my head and laughed, thinking to myself, "he wouldn't be riding the subway"... the story gets really weird when i realized he got on the same train as i did (only later did i stop to wonder, "how did such an old guy get down so fast?")... it's too bad that i was only on for 2 stops because it took me about that long to a) figure out that it really was the Honourable Peter Cory riding the southbound subway on the Yonge line, and b) to decide to at least say 'hello' instead of staring like a weirdo... of course, only a dork of a law student like me would get excited about seeing a judge in person (i mean, we weren't far removed from yorkville, but i wouldn't have been as curious even if a B-list actor had been on the train)...
i think he would've thought i was a bigger freak for going up to him, except i was wearing my Osgoode Law hoodie... i think that got his attention, and i smiled and nodded when we finally made eye contact (OK, even i admit this is starting to sound creepy)... i went up to him before my stop and said, "i bet i'm the only person here that recognizes a Supreme Court justice is on the train"... he laughed and said, "you're probably right"... i wished him well, knowing that i'd probably see him again at another conference or some other function soon anyway (after all, it was only a few weeks ago that i saw him at the s. 15 Charter conference)...
only in Canada, i say... i guess that just goes to show how small this country really is... also goes to show how safe this place is, that a Supreme Court judge (albeit a retired one) can ride public transit -- let alone, without Secret Service (or CSIS, in our case, i guess) detail... finally, i think it shows how oblivious the rest of society is to our profession and how esoteric the "law" really is... we address judges as "Your Honour" or "Your Lordship" and esteem them for being so "learned", but really, the average person wouldn't be able to tell Justice Cory from any other grandpa-figure in a suit riding the subway... while judges make decrees and interpret (some say "rewrite") the laws that affect our day-to-day existence, the rest of society just continues on its merry way... in Canada (to our credit, i think), we haven't imputed much, if any, celebrity status on public figures...
anyway, that's my anecdote for the day... it probably would've been a doozy of a story to share during interview week... i know it'll make great fodder for cocktail parties and what-not... talk about an interesting day: i start the morning accepting a position to work at a government law office, and i end the evening semi-stalking a judge... this law thing is really taking over...
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posted by þΛųL jØŋαŦhΛŋ @ 23:45
1 Comments:
At 7:31 p.m.,
a blawger said…
Actually, I don't know if I would recognize Cory if I saw him on the subway. He looks like a pretty normal guy. (And I generally have my nose in a newspaper on the TTC.)
I like your Iraq $ counter. And your Oxfam ribbon is bigger than mine. DOH!
;)
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