History of the Persons Case

Today is the 98th 88th [Sorry!] anniversary of Edwards v. Canada, the Persons Case, in which  Lord Sankey decided that making a distinction between "women" and "persons" in Canadian legal interpretation was a relic of "a time more barbarous than ours." The judge declared in the same ruling that the Constitution of Canada was a living tree capable of growth and development within its natural limits, which has become a basic interpretive principle in Canadian constitutional law, a valuable bulwark against "originalism," the odd American view that words can only meant what a gang of slave-holding aristos believed them to mean in the late eighteenth century.

The date of Edwards v. Canada is the reason why it was decided, 25 years ago, that in Canada Women's History Month would occur in October.  Gail Campbell has the deets at the Acadiensis blog