A Touch of Murder Now and Then

Lesley H. Morley is a practising lawyer with a particular interest in
immigration law.

A Touch of Murder is Murdoch Robertson’s account of some of the
highlights of his 50 years practising law in the courtrooms of rural
northwestern British Columbia, near the southernmost end of the Alaskan
panhandle.

Robertson started his life in law at the University of British
Columbia, from which he graduated in 1950. He articled in Prince Rupert,
receiving the princely wage of $65.00 per month, and then set up
practice in Smithers, British Columbia, later settling in Terrace.
Although he maintained a general practice, his special interest was in
criminal proceedings, particularly murder trials. He represented either
the accused or the Crown in several such trials and devotes the bulk of
this book to describing them.

Robertson participated in his first murder trial as a junior counsel in
1951. (His account of how he nearly lost the trial as a result of
coaching a witness makes amusing reading.) Future clients included a man
accused of a murder that took place on a salvage boat in Prince Rupert
harbor; a man who killed one of his passengers while driving his car on
a runway of the Terrace Kitimat airport; a Hungarian immigrant, charged
with murder, who spoke little English; and a young Native, similarly
charged, who did not speak at all.

Lawyers, like soldiers and athletes, love to tell stories of old
battles waged and won. Robertson, a natural storyteller, is no
exception. The fact that he was practising law at a time when neither
women nor Natives could serve on a jury, when all crimes involving sums
over $25 were indictable offences, and when children of eight could be
charged and convicted makes his stories of historical as well as legal
interest. A Touch of Murder Now and Then will be of legal particular
interest to criminal, rural, and B.C. practitioners.