A New Direction, 1906-18

• Author: C. Ian Kyer
• Pages: 123-158



M C hapter N

A NEW DIRECTION,



I   B   president of Canada Permanent Mortgage Corporation,

issuedawarn ingtohissha reholdersthatwasverymuch inthesca llycon

servative tradition of William Gooderham and James Gooderham Worts.

Although it was an unrivalled period of expansion Beay noted that

“speculation, high prices, extravagant living and extended credits” were

prevalent. He advised that it was not a “time for the mariner at the helm of a

businessshiptothrowoutare efinhismain sailbutrathertodoublereefit

against storms that may be gathering.”

David Fasken did not share his mentor’s caution. Having mastered busi

nessmanagementhei ntendedtograspthe helmofthe lawrmand sailit

in anew direc tiona squ icklyas possible by applyingt hesa mepri nciples

and rigour. But this was a partnership and he needed his part ners’ consent.

So he began by asking them to commit the terms of their partnersh ip to

paper. David wanted the new agreement to give formal recognition to the

enormousc hanges that had occurred in the r msi nce to make it

cleart hatalthough Beaya ndBlackstock remained the rstna meson the

leerheadhewasinchargeNotonlywouldawrienagreementhavebeen

seen as unnecess ary just a few short years earlier, given the ties that knit the

partnerstogetherbutthe preciseterms ofthisdocumentwouldnever

have been acceptable to those partners.

At rst it seemed that David wouldprevail O n  September he

convincedBeayChadwickRiddellHarper Armstrong AlexFaskenand

ﾅﾆﾈLawyersFamiliesandBusinesses

Hugh Rose to join him in signing a par tnership agreement that made them

copartnersforveyearsinthepracticeandprofessionofbarristerssolici

torsandnotariespublicunderthermnameofBeayBlackstockFasken

RiddellUnfortunatelyforDavidtobe bindingtheagr eementrequiredt he

signatures of all the par tners and two of them, Percy Galt and Ross Gooder

ham, refused to sign. They saw that David’s proposal would give him a

levelof control that evenBeay had never enjoyedThe elder Faskenwas

describedintheagr eementasthemanagerofthebusinessoft hermAs

such he could decide what line of work was to be undertaken by each part

ner, severely curtailing their i ndependence. They also saw that they were

todedicate themselves to the practice oflaw  there were to beno more

socialbueriesor parttimepractitionerswhora notherbusines sesonthe

side. Partners were no longer to be free to come and go as they pleased. Each

would be entitled to one month’s holiday during the year. If absent beyond

thatthedelinquentpartnerwastopaytothermsuchamountforeachday

as the majority in interest of the par tners thought appropriate. Riddell was

permied to take two months without deduction on condition that if he

shallarg ueanycas ein Englandbefore thePrivy Councilduri ngthesaid

months he shall not claim any extra vacation on th at account.”

Several of the provisions seem to have been intended to ensure that t here

would not be another George Blackstock. The agreement stated that no part

ner was to be a candidate for or contest any municipal, parliamentary, or any

other public election and that the practice was to be carr ied on in the City of

Torontoandeachpartnerwasrequiredtoresidethere SomeonelikeBlack

stockwhohadpoliticalaspirationsandwhospentliletimeinTorontowas

no longer welcome. Ironically it was probably Fasken’s insistence on these

measures that brought Blackstock back to Toronto and his law practice. In

andweagainseehisnameascounselforthermi nseveralcases

that made their way to the Supreme Court of Canada. But his renewed dedi

cationtohis Torontolawpracticewasrelativelyshortlivedand byhe

had dropped from sight once again.

Even David Fasken himself was not to be entirely im mune from the

requirementsoutli nedint heagreementHe waspermiedto maintain his

arrangement with the Excelsior Life Insura nce Company and to receive “the

emoluments therefrom,” provided that if he looked after the business of that

company during the day he had to arrange for a proper retainer to be paid to

thelawrmtocompensateitforhistime

ANewDirectionﾅﾆﾉ

Beaywasshown asa partnerbuthisvalue wasin goodwillhis name

and contacts He would not be required to perform any actual solicitor

workbutwastousehisbestendeavourstoprocurebusinessfortherm

and to giveall of the i nuencehe could towards the promotion of the

interestsof thermHewas nothowevertointerfere with Davidsoper

ationofthermHecouldretainanyfeesfromactingasadirectorortrustee

and any amounts that he received from any other busine ss outside of the

rmwithwhichhemightbeconnectedhardlysurprisingwhenonenotes

that hed idnot receive any income from the rm His emolumentsand

“the use of a room at the north east end of the building without cha rge” were

all that he got.

In an aempt to placate Ross Gooderham the agreement also made

special provisions for him. On George Gooderham’s death, Ross had been

appointedexecutoroftheestateHewastobepermiedtoretainanycom

missions to which he was entitled as executor as well as any direc tor’s fees

payable to him for serving on any company’s board in connection with the

estateHewas howevernottoparticipatei nany feesreceivedby the rm

from his father’s estate.

Thenetprotsoft hepracticewereto bedividedamongthe partnersas

follows:

 OfthersteachyearDavidFaskenandWilliamRenwickRid

dellwereto receiveeachAlexFaskenandall others

eitheror

 Prots over were to be divided in varying percentages de

pending on the level ofprot achieved For exampleif the prots fell

betwee nandDav idFaskenan dRiddellwou ldeach

get percent but if the protswere over they received

only percent In this wayFasken andR iddellwouldbe compen

satedfort hebase businesst hatthey broughtto therm butthere was

some incentive to the younger partners to work hard and bring in new

business.

Thedra ftagreement createda rippleof discontentt hroughoutthe

rmManybegantoactivelyseekoutotheropportunitiesWithhisfatherno

longeractivein the rmand DavidFaskenin chargeBeayssonCharles

William, left. Young Robert McKay also left. These departures paled in com

parisonwiththelossthatoccurredonOctoberhoweverwhenRid

dell accepted an appointment to the bench.With NesbigoneandG eorge