Saint Mary's

Profile

Sabbatical 2024-25
Professor
BA (Acadia); MA (York); LLB (Toronto); MA (Toronto); Ph.D (Dalhousie) 

Office: McNally North, Room 224
Tel: 902-420-5762
Email: blake.brown@smu.ca

Blake Brown is a Professor in the Department of History at Saint Mary’s University, and is cross-appointed to the Atlantic Canada Studies program.  He holds a PhD in history from Dalhousie University, a MA in history from York University, and a BA in history from Acadia University.  In addition, he completed a law degree and a MA in criminology at the University of Toronto prior to undertaking his PhD.

Professor Brown has been the Fulbright Visiting Research Chair and Visiting Scholar in History at Vanderbilt University, a Visiting Fellow at the University of Victoria in Wellington, a Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Post-Doctoral Fellow at Saint Mary’s University, a Fellow at the J. Willard Hurst Summer Institute in Legal History at the University of Wisconsin, and a Visiting Researcher at Harvard Law School. 

Professor Brown’s principal research and teaching interests are modern Canadian history, legal history, and the history of Atlantic Canada.  His articles have appeared in various journals, including the Canadian Historical Review, Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, the Canadian Journal of History, Acadiensis, the McGill Law Journal, the American Journal of Legal History, and the Journal of Law & Social Inquiry. He is the author of (University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, 2009), (University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, 2012) and (with Philip Girard and Jim Phillips) (University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society, 2018) and .

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Teaching

Professor Brown teaches HIST 1253: Canada since Confederation, HIST 2340: The History of Atlantic Canada, HIST 3000: The Discipline of History, HIST 3403: The Invention of Canada, HIST 4401: Crime in Canada, and HIST 4574: Guns, Violence, and the Law.

Publications 

a) Books: 

A History of Law in Canada, Volume Two: Law for a New Dominion, 1867–1914. Toronto: University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society, 2022. (with Jim Phillips and Philip Girard).

A History of Law in Canada: Beginnings to 1866.  Toronto: University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society, 2018 (third author with Philip Girard and Jim Phillips).

Arming and Disarming the Nation: A History of Gun Control in Canada.  University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society, 2012. 

A Trying Question: The Jury in Nineteenth-Century Canada.  University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society, 2009.

b) Sample Articles and Book Chapters 

“A Legal History of the Regulation of Assault-Style Rifles in Canada,” (2023)

“‘Are Canadian Street Cops Outgunned?’: The Debate over Police Handguns in Canada in the 1990s,” (2023) (with Rudy Bartlett)

“‘A fusillade of shots in the quiet neighbourhood’: The 1967 Vancouver Mass Shooting and Gun Control in the late 1960s,” , 213 (Spring 2022), pp.35-60.

“‘The Largest Stock of Guns in Canada’: Charles Stark, Firearm Retailing, and Gun Culture in Late-Nineteenth-Century Toronto,” Ontario History, 106:1 (2022), pp.88-108.  

“Preventing Medical Malpractice in mid-20th-century Canada: CMPA and its Approach to Concerns about Varicose Vein Treatments,” , 194:6 (14 February 2022), pp.E220-E222.

“‘Architects’ mistakes should be covered with ivy and doctors’ with sod’: Medical Malpractice, Morton Shulman, and the ‘Conspiracy of Silence,” Canadian Historical Review, 102 (2021), pp.255-278.

“The Ghost of the Long-Gun Registry: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gun Control in Canada, 2015-2019,” Études canadiennes / Canadian Studies, 89 (2020), pp.125-149.

“A Master Mariner’s Left Testicle and the Law of Surgical Consent in Mid-Twentieth-Century Canada,” Canadian Bulletin of Medical History, 36 (2019), pp.1-26.

'"A more disgraceful case it has seldom fallen to our lot to comment upon:’ Medical Malpractice in Nineteenth-Century New Brunswick,” Acadiensis, 47:2 (2018), pp.5-25.

“Canada’s First Malpractice Crisis: Medical Negligence in the Late Nineteenth Century,” Osgoode Hall Law Journal, 54:3 (2017), pp.777-803.

“Firearm ‘Rights’ in Canada: Law and History in the Debates over Gun Control,” Canadian Journal of Law & Society, 32:1 (2017), pp.97-116.

“‘Have you any recollection of what occurred at all?’: Davis v. Colchester County Hospital and the Medical Negligence in Interwar Canada,” Journal of the Canadian Historical Association n.s., 26:1 (2015), pp.131-162. (first author with Magen Hudak).

“‘Possession of arms among these men … might lead to serious consequences’: Regulating Firearms in the Canadas, 1760-1867,” in Blaine Baker and Donald Fyson, eds., Essays in the History of Canadian Law, Volume XI: Quebec and the Canadas (Toronto: University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society, 2013).

“The harshness and injustice of the common law rule … has frequently been commented upon”: Debating Contributory Negligence in Canada, 1900-1950,” in Dalhousie Law Journal, 36:1 (2013), pp. 137-169 (first author with Noelle Yhard). 

“‘Every boy ought to learn to shoot and to obey orders’: Guns, Boys, and the Law in Canada from the late Nineteenth Century to the Great War,” Canadian Historical Review, 93:2 (2012), pp.196-226. 

“‘Capitalist ‘justice’ as peddled by the ‘Noble Lords’”: Toronto Electric Commissioners v. Snider et al,”in Eric Tucker and Judge Fudge, eds.,Work on Trial: Cases in ContextToronto: Irwin and the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, 2010, pp.15-42. (with Jennifer J. Llewellyn)

 “‘Pistol Fever’: Regulating Revolvers in Late-Nineteenth-Century Canada,” Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, n.s., 20:1 (2009), pp.107-138. 

“‘Stars and Shamrocks will be Sown:’ The Fenian State Trials, 1866-67,” in Barry Wright and Susan Binnie, eds., Canadian State Trials, Volume III: Political Trials and Security Measures, 1840-1914. Toronto: University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society, 2009, pp.35-84. 

“One Version of History: The Supreme Court of Canada’s Use of History in the Quebec Secession Reference,” in Penny Bryden and Dimitry Anastakis, eds.,Framing Federalism for the Twenty-First Century: Historical Essays in Honour of John T. Saywell.  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009, pp.15-50. 

“‘That privilege … of having Grand jurymen from our towns’: Grand Juries, Municipal Reform, and Responsible Government in Nova Scotia,” Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society, 10 (2007), pp.47-71. 

“Storms, Roads, and Harvest Time: Criticisms of Jury Service in Pre-Confederation Nova Scotia,” Acadiensis, 36:1 (2006), pp.93-111. 

“‘Three Cheers for Lord Denman’: The Irish, Reformers and Jury Packing in Nova Scotia, 1833-1845,” Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, 16 (2005), pp.139-167. 

“‘To Err is Human, To Forgive Divine’: The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia and the Labour Relations Board, 1947-1965,” in Philip Girard, Jim Phillips & Barry Cahill, eds., The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia 1754-2004: From Imperial Bastion to Provincial Oracle. Toronto: University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, 2004, pp. 449-489.

“A Collective Biography of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, 1900-2000,” in Philip Girard, Jim Phillips & Barry Cahill, eds., The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia 1754-2004; From Imperial Bastion to Provincial Oracle. Toronto: University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, 2004, pp.204-242. (with Susan S. Jones) 

“The Highest Legal Ability in the Nation: Langdell on Wall Street, 1855-1870,” Law & Social Inquiry, 29:1 (2004), pp.39-104. (with Bruce A. Kimball) 

“When Holmes Borrowed From Langdell: The Public Policy and ‘Ultra-legal’ Formalism of Northern Securities, 1904,” American Journal of Legal History, 45:3 (2001), pp.278-321. (with Bruce A. Kimball)


c) Popular / Newspaper Articles

“Nova Scotia’s Mass Casualty Commission calls for stricter gun control laws,” The Conversation Canada, 30 March 2023,

“Liberal about-turn on Bill C-21 marks failure of historically significant gun control reform,” The Hill Times, 6 February 2023,

“Texas school shooting: How assault-style rifles and ammunition kill and maim,” The Conversation Canada, 1 June 2022,

“When it comes to gun control, elections matter,” Toronto Star, 1 June 2022, .

“Where the parties stand on gun control in the 2021 federal election,” The Conversation Canada, 2 September 2021,  

“Back in the holster: Sport shooting, 3-Gun, and the ban on assault-style rifles,” Canadian Dimension, 25 August 2021,  

“Should Taxpayers Pay for Banned Assault-Style Rifles?,” Toronto Star, 14 July 2021, A14,  

“New gun-control legislation needs to control replica guns to keep Canadians safe,” Policy Options, 23 March 2021,  

“Guns and Conspiracy Theories in Canada,” Active History, 21 February 2021,  

“Why some gun-control opponents want to 'other' one of Canada's worst mass killers,” National Post, 5 January 2021,  

“O’Toole’s regressive plan to appease gun lobby by weakening restrictions on assault-style rifles,” Toronto Star, 26 August 2020,  

“The State and Organized Rifle Shooting in Nova Scotia in the 1860s,” Borealia, 24 August 2020,  

“Gun advocates’ changing definition of ‘assault rifles’ is meant to sow confusion,” Globe and Mail, 21 May 2020,   

“The Liberal Government’s Incomplete ‘Assault-Style’ Rifle Ban,” Policy Options, 6 May 2020,  

“Nova Scotia mass shooting shows how deadly unlicensed gun owners can be,” The Conversation Canada, 30 April 2020, .  

“The Conservative Leadership of the Changing Demographics of Gun Ownership,” Vancouver Sun, 13 February 2020, A11,  

“The Murder of Constable David Dunmore & Long Debate over whether to Ban ‘Military-Style’ Rifles,” Active History, 4 December 2019,  

“A Short History of the AR-15 in Canada,” The Conversation Canada, 22 September 2019,

“Canada once sold the idea that guns turned boys into men,” The Conversation Canada, 5 August 2019,  

“Conservatives should take lessons from Progressive Conservatives on gun control,” Vancouver Sun, 14 June 2019,

“Canada’s First Medical Malpractice Crisis,” Active History, 8 May 2019,  

“Why aren’t we tougher on ‘assault-style’ firearms?,” Policy Options, 19 April 2019.  

“Why Doctors are Supporting Tough Gun Regulation,” Ottawa Citizen, 25 February 2019, A7,  

“Writing Stories about the History of Canadian Medical Malpractice Law,” Acadiensis, 4 February 2019,  

“Should Canada ban assault-style firearms?,” The Conversation Canada, 14 January 2019, .

“Not so long ago, gun control was a bipartisan issue,” Globe and Mail, 5 September 2018, “Canada’s Desire for Stricter Gun Control is Rooted in our History,” Macleans Magazine, 8 August 2018, “Jury Selection and the Gerald Stanley Decision,” Active History, 16 February 2018, “Gun Rights in Canada: An Exchange,” Active History, 6 March 2017, “The ‘Right’ to Bear Arms in Canada,” Active History, 6 February 2017, “Gun Rights: Hoping History Won’t Matter,” Active History, October 14, 2016,

“Canada’s semi-tough stance on semis,” Halifax Chronicle Herald, Opinion Page, 10 June 2014.