The first issue of the Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence (CJLJ) was published in January of 1988. It grew out of the ashes of the University of Western Ontario Law Review, which was published by Western’s Faculty of Law from 1976 to 1987. That first issue of the CJLJ included papers on corrective justice, criminal defences, contract damages, the rule of law and legal ethics, and in one sense very little has changed since then. Those perennial issues are still being debated, both in the pages of this journal and in the pages of others. But one thing will soon change: Richard Bronaugh’s stewardship of the CJLJ, which he has edited and championed from its inception in 1988.
Richard arrived at Western’s Department of Philosophy in 1962 with a B.A. from Oregon (1956) and an M.S. (1957) and Ph.D. (1962) from Wisconsin. He later received a B.Litt. from Oxford (1976) under Ronald Dworkin. He was a U.S. Army draftee from 1957-59. During that period he was stationed at an Army intelligence school in Okinawa for 15 months, and also taught courses in the history of philosophy for the University of Maryland Overseas in the evenings. Richard has spent his entire academic career at Western. He retired from Western’s Department of Philosophy in 2000 but continued to teach courses in Jurisprudence to students at Western Law for another twelve years. During the 33 years that Richard has served as Editor of the CJLJ he has overseen the production of 66 individual issues of the journal, including nine Coxford Lectures, 15 Special Issues (on, among other topics, Equality, Law and Sexuality, Legal Ethics, Criminal Law, Secession, Social Democracy, and Taxation), together with a 25-year cumulative index.
However, all good things must eventually come to an end and this issue of the CJLJ—Vol. 33, No. 2—will be Richard’s last as Editor—at the age of 86. He has been a tireless advocate for the journal, and his expansive views on what counts as legal philosophy and his belief in the value of active and “hands-on” editing have benefitted numerous authors. Their papers have invariably been improved by Richard’s keen eye, his encyclopedic knowledge of law and philosophy, his quick wit, and his support of younger scholars.
In addition to Richard’s retirement as Editor of the CJLJ, with the publication of this issue Regina Satorius, the CJLJ’s longtime Production Editor, will also be stepping down. It is impossible to adequately convey the incredible amount of work that Regina does behind the scenes to make each issue of the CJLJ as good as it can possibly be. Her design knowledge, attention to detail, and capacity for hard work is remarkable. She too will be sorely missed.
While the future of the CJLJ remains bright, in large part due to the ground that Richard has cleared, I take on the role of Editor with some trepidation. Richard has set remarkably high standards and I doubt that I will be able to approach, much less match, what he has done over the last third of a century. But with the support of Cambridge University Press, the guidance of the CJLJ’s Consulting Editors, and the invaluable input of the journal’s excellent referees, we will strive to keep Richard’s editorial approach alive through the articles that the CJLJ publishes, through the feedback that we supply to authors, and through the way in which the journal understands the role and importance of legal philosophy in our increasingly complicated world. In short, (to paraphrase Richard) we will do our best to ensure that the timeless will always remain timely.
2008 Painting of Richard Bronaugh by Regina Satorius
