A pivotal gift from University of Toronto alumnus Donald R. Crawshaw (LLB 1982) will deepen private law scholarship at the Faculty of Law.
“We are deeply grateful to Donald Crawshaw for his vision in establishing this endowed chair in private law,” said University Professor and Dean Jutta Brunnée, James Marshall Tory Dean’s Chair. “His generous gift solidifies our position as a global leader in this foundational area of law.”
To recognize his generous benefaction, the chair will be named the Donald R. Crawshaw Chair in Private Law.
A leader in business law
Crawshaw graduated from U of T’s Faculty of Law in 1982. Receiving strong support from his then professors, the late Jacob Ziegel, dean emeritus and U of T president emeritus, J. Robert S. Prichard, the Hon. Derek Mendes da Costa and the Hon. Frank Iacobucci, then dean of the law school, he deferred his articles to pursue a Master of Laws at Columbia Law School.
“I had no intention of remaining in the U.S. when I left Canada,” says Crawshaw who later began practising at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City, where he remained until he retired as partner at the end of 2024. His practice focuses on the various federal securities laws, primarily in the capital markets, investment management and commodities and derivatives areas and includes a broad range of other work for cross-border clients. He is now Of Counsel to the firm and continues to advise and consult.
“I am delighted my esteemed classmate Peter [Benson] will be first holder of the new chair,” says Crawshaw. “Over the years, quite a number of his students joined my firm, and they without exception have commented on how much they learned from him and enjoyed his class."
“Of course, I never had the chance to be taught by him, but I am grateful for the excellent legal education I received at U of T. I am very pleased to support the Faculty of Law, financially,” says Crawshaw, who opted to support a key academic priority for U of T Law.
Distinguished scholar named inaugural chairholder
Peter Benson is a renowned scholar of contract law and contract theory, a substantive area of private law.
“As the inaugural chairholder, Peter will continue shaping the field of contract law and contract theory,” said Dean Brunnée. “This chair is a platform to drive forward groundbreaking work."
Benson, a graduate of U of T’s Faculty of Law, joined the faculty in 1998 after clerking for the late Chief Justice Bora Laskin at the Supreme Court of Canada and teaching at McGill University's Faculty of Law for 13 years. He became a full professor at U of T in 2000. His teaching and writing focus mainly on contract law, contract theory and the theory of private law. His book, Justice in Transactions: A Theory of Contract Law—a 10-year project—was published by an imprint of Harvard University Press, The Belknap Press, in 2019.
“Contracts involve promises or exchanges. What we owe each other,” explains Benson. “What notion or notions of justice inform contract law? How do contracts relate to the market? How does contract law link up with larger issues of social justice and distributive justice? I find these questions and contract law itself truly, endlessly, interesting.”
Benson says most of students expect contract law to be very technical or dry, so he starts—and ends—with a very simple example, one that's easy to imagine.
“I want to sell you my horse for $100. There are very few contracts like that anymore, but the fundamental principles and doctrines of contract law are all involved in thinking through that simple transaction. It gives students a framework. What happens if the horse dies before I deliver it? What happens if the price is drastically out of sync with the going market price?”
During his now forty years of teaching, Benson also regularly teaches an introductory course on the late U.S. political philosopher John Rawls' theory of justice, with whom he studied as a graduate law student at Harvard.
“It’s a kind of intellectual therapy for me because Rawls’ work is so careful, so exceptionally deep and systematic. He helps us to think about the most fundamental concepts that we take for granted in liberal democracy,” he says.
“Although Rawls didn't write on private law, his method and his approach are relevant to my area of interest. How do you publicly justify laws and principles that are coercively enforced by the state? Which contract law does: if you break your contract, you must pay damages.”
Recognizing ‘three giants’ of private law
Benson says own work has been most influenced by his emeritus colleagues, Michael J. Trebilcock, Ernest J. Weinrib, and the late Stephen Waddams (1942-2023). All ascended to the rank of University Professor, a distinguished honour limited to a small number of the university’s professors who have achieved pre-eminence in their field.
“From Michael I learned the great importance of comparing carefully and systematically different theoretical approaches to law and to contract law in particular. Stephen taught me all I know about contract law. Ernie, in my view, is the greatest theorist of private law of our times," he says.
"I was very fortunate to study closely under and with Ernie, to work as his research assistant and to have many long and wonderful conversations with him. I so respect each of them as scholars and persons. I am always learning from their work, which I continue to read and think about—and hopefully am better able to understand and appreciate with passing years."
Knowing the value of academic mentorship, every year, Benson offers to supervise student-directed research papers on topics in private law. He supervised six this past academic year. He is most grateful the chair funding will support more student researchers who are interested in private law topics.
Gift is a promise
Benson is especially honoured to hold the inaugural private law chair founded by his U of T classmate.
"Don was the Angus MacMurchy Gold Medalist, standing first in our graduating year. It's very special to have that connection," says Benson.
“Even if it's not contractually binding, the chair is my promise: I will do my very best to make myself worthy of it.”
