The Heiress Vs the Establishment: Mrs. Campbell's Campaign for Legal Justice

by Constance Backhouse

In 1922, Elizabeth Bethune Campbell, a Toronto-born socialite, unearthed what she initially thought was an unsigned copy of her mother's will, designating her as the primary beneficiary of the estate. The discovery snowballed into a fourteen-year battle with the Ontario legal establishment, as Mrs. Campbell attemted to prove that her uncle, a prominent member of Ontario's legal circle, had stolen funds from her mother's estate. In 1930, she argued her case before the Law Lords of the Privy Council in London. A non-lawyer and Canadian, with no formal education, Campbell was the first woman to ever appear before them. She won. Reprinted here in its entirety, Where Angels Fear to Tread, Campbell's self-published manuscript, is an eloquent and rare first-person account of the world of overlapping intrigue and influence that constituted the early twentieth century legal system. Extensive commentary and annotations by the editors illuminate the context for Campbell's story, and allow readers to better understand the implications of her case for Canadian legal history. So much more than a simple case study, The Heiress vs the Establishment is a vibrantly written account that will be welcomed by legal and social historians, those with an interest in Canadian letters, scholars of gender studies, as well as the public at large.

356 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Sharon Ouderkirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains an original memoir by Elizabeth Campbell, Where Angels Fear to Tread, in which she relates her struggle for justice against an uncle who defrauded her mother's estate. Elizabeth was an heiress, and a member of Ontario's elite in 1922. She discovered an unsigned will of her mother's in which she was left as the main beneficiary. However, her uncle's claim of the amount of money left did not seem reasonable to her, and her two sisters worked to claim that her mother died intestate, to force a three way split of the money.
Elizabeth was having none of this, and she broke ranks with her class and fought it all the way to the Privy Council in England. The members of the legal profession threw constant roadblocks in her path, urged her to settle, attempted intimidation and bullying, but she persisted, and ultimately proved that Uncle had sticky fingers. She didn't end up with a lot of money, even by 1922 standards; most of the funds went to pay for the case. But she was the first woman, and a non-lawyer, to successfully argue a case to the Privy Council. If that wasn't enough, she chipped away at the male privilege that existed at the time: she dared to challenge men who were never challenged, and delivered a serious shock to their system.
The story is more legal than financial - there is not a lot of detail of how much money she ended up with, or how she and her sisters shared the funds. There is minimal analysis of the impact of her achievement as a feminist. The book is about preparing and presenting the case, and apparently is and was very popular in the legal set. (In the old days, when it was first written, budding lawyers read it secretly, because it was such a scandalous tale). Mrs. Campbell was tenacious and obsessive, and determined, and she would not have won a penny if she hadn't had these qualities. I would be interested to read a book that talks more specifically about her family and her feminist victory, and places the story in historical context, rather than her legal trials.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

While sometimes a little rambling, the original take in Where Angels Fear To Tread and this analysis was absolutely engaging from beginning to end. It offers fascinating characters and a clear look at the challenges for women in legal situations at the turn of the century. A definite page turner.