Fiction as Fact and Legend as History: The Significance of the Irish-Canadian Novel The Yellow Briar and Its Author John Mitchell to the History of the Ontario Legal Profession

Abstract

The Irish-Canadian lawyer John Mitchell had an unexpected effect on the history of the Ontario legal profession and vice-versa with his 1933 novel The Yellow Briar: A Story of the Irish on the Canadian Countryside. Elements drawn from the profession were incorporated into the novel. The significance of the novel to the profession exemplifies a relationship that may develop between the history of the profession and the persons and works that conserve or promote it. The Yellow Briar, which promoted and influenced the history of the profession, resulted in the profession incorporating Mitchell and his novel within its history as subjects of lawyer lore. Mitchell and his novel were consequently afforded a place in history arguably greater than what they otherwise might have attained.