Toronto, May 11, 2009 - Capping of a lifetime of ground-breaking legal scholarship and regular accolades from his students for his inspired teaching, Professor Ernest Weinrib of the Faculty of Law is the winner of the $100,000 Killam Prize, Canada's highest honour for scholarly career achievement.
Weinrib, who has been at U of T since 1968, is Canada's pre-eminent legal theorist and a leading scholar of private law. His work addresses fundamental questions about the relationship between law, freedom, and rationality, and presents new insights into the nature of legal coherence, the limits of judicial competence, the autonomy of legal reasoning, and the relation of legal doctrine to legal theory. Combining legal and philosophical analysis, he has been a pioneer in interdisciplinary legal scholarship in Canada. At U of T he holds the rank of University Professor and Cecil A. Wright Professor of Law.
"My appreciation also goes to the University of Toronto for providing a rich and supporting interdisciplinary environment; to my legal theory colleagues there and elsewhere, whose conversations have sustained me; to generations of wonderful law students who have continuously forced me to defend and clarify my ideas; and to the inspired leadership of successive deans, who have treated legal theory as central both to the study of law and to the Faculty's intellectual life," he says.
"We are all so proud of Ernie," says Dean Mayo Moran. "He is a treasure, and it is wonderful to see him receive this public recognition for his years of inspired and pioneering scholarship in legal theory. He has had a profound influence on so many students and colleagues over the course of his career. We are all fortunate that he has chosen to make his intellectual home at the Faculty of Law."
Administered by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Killam Prizes are awarded annually to distinguished Canadian scholars doing research in engineering, health sciences, natural sciences, social sciences or humanities. The awards are designed to encourage continuing contributions to scholarly research in Canada and are given in recognition of a distinguished career and exceptional contributions.
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For more information, please contact:
Laura Rosen Cohen, Communications Officer
Facutly of Law
T: (416) 946-5722
E: laura.rosencohen@utoronto.ca
