Barry, John Paul

CONVOCATION, MAY, 1987
JOHN PAUL BARRY
to be Doctor of Civil Law

In choosing to follow the profession of law, Justice J. Paul Barry was maintaining a family tradition, since his father, the late Honourable John A. Barry, was the Saint John Court Judge from 1923 to 1950. Even as a student, he gave promise of exceptional ability, graduating as class leader in law at the University of New Brunswick in 1936. So rapid was his progress through law school, in fact, that he had to wait for eight months after graduating before he was old enough to be admitted to the Bar of New Brunswick! He was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 1953 and a Justice of the Supreme Court in 1966. Following his retirement, he elected to become a supernumerary judge and in this capacity he is frequently called upon by the Chief Justice to undertake cases of unusual complexity. He is a past vice-president of the Canadian Bar Association, a past president of the Barristers’ Society of New Brunswick and a past president of the Saint John Law Society.

This bare recital of facts in insufficient to explain, except by implication, the extraordinarily high regard in which Judge Barry is held in this Province. During his years on the Supreme Court, he established a reputation as an outstanding jurist, and he is widely regarded as one of the best trial judges in Canada. His quick mind, remarkable capacity for assimilating and retaining information, and ability to penetrate to the essential elements of a case are legendary within the profession. His reputation is such that it is to Judge Barry that many of his fellow judges automatically turn to seek guidance in dealing with unusual or difficult cases. His decisions are noted for their fairness and impartiality, his sentences tempered by a humanity evident even to those at the receiving end of his judgments.

Second only to Judge Barry’s fame as a jurist is his reputation as a teacher. All those who have come in contact with him, from his children to his professional colleagues, recall with affection his readiness to share his encyclopedic store of knowledge. As with all great teachers, his effectiveness is founded upon his own hunger for knowledge and understanding. A voracious reader, he can discourse on any subject from the latest advance in medical science to the finer points of rugby football. Fascinated by gadgets of any kind, he is as much at home probing the intricacies of a home heating system with a visiting plumber as in discussing legal minutiae with his peers. The frequency of his visits to Canadian Tire to obtain materials for his various projects has, in the past, led his friends to speculate on the possibility of his being a shareholder in that estimable company.

In bestowing a degree on Justice John Paul Barry, we are honouring one of our own, a graduate and one-time lecturer in our Faculty of Law, some of whose sons and daughters are also graduates of this university. We are honouring a distinguished man of law and a distinguished teacher. Above all, we are honouring a man; a man of integrity, judgment and compassion, a man of deep convictions founded on a strong religious faith, a man who, if you will forgive the introduction of an often over-used, but in this instance totally appropriate, quotation, could well adopt as his family motto Terence’s aphorism "Humani nil a me alienum puto" – "nothing that has to do with humanity is foreign to me." Mr. President, I have pleasure in presenting, for the degree of Doctor of Civil Law, this "man for all seasons," John Paul Barry

From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 2