Micheline Laflamme
During a dinner at the Rideau Club on March 7, 2008, the Faculty of Law’s Common Law Section honoured Professor Emeritus Joseph Roach. For 40 years, Professor Roach taught law and contributed to the development of the common law program in French, the 30th anniversary of which was celebrated on the same occasion.
After graduating from the Common Law Section in 1962, Joseph Roach worked for a short time with a law firm, then for a Crown corporation before returning to his alma mater in 1965. He taught law in English and French at the University; he also taught Latin and Greek. He became the first coordinator of the French Common Law program in 1977. His mandate at the time was to complete what he called "the magnificent adventure of the common law program in French."
As a specialist in law of property and estates, Professor Roach participated in the development of the French terminology of common law, something that, for all intents and purposes was non-existent at the time. He worked with the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Legal Translation and Documentation and sat on the standardization committee of the Program for the Integration of Both Official Languages in the Administration of Justice, a program that came under the federal Department of Justice.
Professor Roach was also something of a pioneer, writing original Common Law publications in French. His book, Les hypothèques immobilières en common law, published by Yvon Blais in 1991, has become a reference tool. He will soon be publishing a manuscript on the rights of owners and tenants in the common law provinces and territories. He is still involved in the Common Law Section as he continues to guide the young generation of legal scholars who, like him, are convinced of the necessity of offering services in French.
