Armed with his recently-awarded Walter Gordon Fellowship, Osgoode Hall Law School Professor C. Douglas Hay (right) will spend a year pursuing his primary research which has dealt with the history of criminal procedure, punishment, and crime in England and Canada. Hay is also an accomplished expert in the comparative history of labour law.
The prestigious Walter Gordon Fellowship is presented periodically by York University to distinguished scholars at the University to recognize outstanding research. It is named in honour of the late Hon. Walter L. Gordon, former chancellor of York. The fellowship allows the recipient the opportunity to complete works or projects which require a significant amount of time, relieving them of teaching and other University responsibilities.
"We are so pleased that Professor Hay will have this award and be able to complete his important historical work," said Osgoode Dean Patrick Monahan."It is a tribute to his outstanding research ability and reflects his reputation and stature among our colleagues at the University."
Cross-appointed to Osgoode Hall Law School and York's Department of History since 1981, Hay taught previously at Memorial University of Newfoundland. One of Canada's leading legal historians, Hay is currently involved in an international project on the evolution of the contract of employment throughout the common law world over four centuries. He has a forthcoming book with Staffordshire Record Society called Crown Side Cases in the Court of King's Bench and is co-editor of Masters, Servants and Magistrates in Britain and the Empire, 1562-1955 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004).
"The selection committee was particularly impressed with the quality of each of the applicants and the significant research ideas brought forward," said David Dewitt, York's associate vice-president research (social sciences and humanities), and chair of the Walter Gordon Fellowship selection committee. "The strength of these applications is a testament to the growing research culture at York University and the Fellowship provides important recognition of and support for that leading-edge research."