Ronald St. John Macdonald

1988 Read Medal Recipient

C.C., Q.C., B.A. (St. FX), LL.B. (Dal.), LL.M(London)., LL.M. (Harvard), LL.D.(h.c -McGill, Dal. Carl., St. Fx)

Ronald Macdonald was educated in Canada, England and the United States and taught at Osgoode Hall Law School, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Toronto, where he served as Dean (1962-72) and at Dalhousie where he was also Dean (1972-79). Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Dr. Macdonald's expertise in the area of protection of human rights culminated in his election as the only-non-European judge of the European Court of Human Rights (1980-99. Dr. Macdonald served as a Canadian representative and advisor at the UN, including at the Conference on Human Rights, Tehran (1968), at the International Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, as member (1972-76) and Vice-Chairman (1974-75), and as the Special Advisor to the Republic of Cyprus (1975). He lectured at The Hague Academy of International Law and in 1980 was the first visiting professor of international law at Peking University. Dr. Macdonald is a Queen's Counsel (since 1968) and Officer of the Order of Canada (1984). He is the founding President of the Canadian Council on International Law and is its Honourary President. He was President of the World Academy of Arts and Science (1983-1987). In 1999, Dr. Macdonald received the prestigious Ramon John Hnatyshan Award of Law, recognizing outstanding contributions to the law and legal scholarship in Canada.