The Board of Editors notes with sadness the passing of Sharon Williams in November 2016, following a protracted illness. She was a long-standing member of the Board of Editors, serving from 1986 (volume 24) until her death.
Sharon Williams completed her doctoral studies under the supervision of Jean-Gabriel Castel at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, where she became a faculty member in 1977 and held the rank of professor emerita at the time of her death. She was a pioneer and renowned expert in the fields of the legal protection of cultural property and international criminal law. A frequent advisor to the Canadian government on matters of extradition, the denaturalization and deportation of war criminals, the extraterritorial dimensions of Canadian criminal law, the prosecution of crimes against humanity, and the establishment of the International Criminal Court, Williams was also a frequent special advisor to the Canadian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly.
Williams wrote prolifically, authoring numerous books, book chapters, and articles in such diverse areas as national and international cultural property law, transnational and international criminal law, international environmental law, international human rights law, and law school mooting. In 1979, she co-authored (with Armand de Mestral of McGill University) An Introduction to International Law: Chiefly as Interpreted and Applied in Canada, the first text of its kind to be published in Canada. A fully engaged member of the Canadian and international legal communities, Williams served as vice-president (1992–93) and then president (1998–99) of the Canadian Council on International Law as well as in executive positions in many national and international scholarly societies. In addition to her thirty years of service as a member of the Board of Editors of The
Canadian Yearbook of International Law, she also served for many years as assistant editor of the Canadian Bar Review.
Awarded the David W. Mundell Medal for distinguished contribution to law and letters in 1991, and inducted in 1993 as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and in 1996 as an associate member of the International Academy of Comparative Law, Sharon Williams was appointed to the Permanent Court of Arbitration from 1991 to 1997 and as judge ad litem of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia from 2001 to 2003. She was deeply affected by her exposure, in the latter context, to the horrors of the Balkan conflicts.
A dedicated teacher and scholar, Sharon Williams enriched the Canadian and international legal communities and made several pioneering and lasting contributions in her fields of expertise. Her passing is a loss not only to the Yearbook but also to the scholarly and legal communities in Canada and abroad.
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The Board of Editors notes with sadness the passing of Sharon Williams in November 2016, following a protracted illness. She was a long-standing member of the Board of Editors, serving from 1986 (volume 24) until her death.
Sharon Williams completed her doctoral studies under the supervision of Jean-Gabriel Castel at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, where she became a faculty member in 1977 and held the rank of professor emerita at the time of her death. She was a pioneer and renowned expert in the fields of the legal protection of cultural property and international criminal law. A frequent advisor to the Canadian government on matters of extradition, the denaturalization and deportation of war criminals, the extraterritorial dimensions of Canadian criminal law, the prosecution of crimes against humanity, and the establishment of the International Criminal Court, Williams was also a frequent special advisor to the Canadian delegation to the United Nations General Assembly.
Williams wrote prolifically, authoring numerous books, book chapters, and articles in such diverse areas as national and international cultural property law, transnational and international criminal law, international environmental law, international human rights law, and law school mooting. In 1979, she co-authored (with Armand de Mestral of McGill University) An Introduction to International Law: Chiefly as Interpreted and Applied in Canada, the first text of its kind to be published in Canada. A fully engaged member of the Canadian and international legal communities, Williams served as vice-president (1992–93) and then president (1998–99) of the Canadian Council on International Law as well as in executive positions in many national and international scholarly societies. In addition to her thirty years of service as a member of the Board of Editors of The Canadian Yearbook of International Law, she also served for many years as assistant editor of the Canadian Bar Review.
Awarded the David W. Mundell Medal for distinguished contribution to law and letters in 1991, and inducted in 1993 as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and in 1996 as an associate member of the International Academy of Comparative Law, Sharon Williams was appointed to the Permanent Court of Arbitration from 1991 to 1997 and as judge ad litem of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia from 2001 to 2003. She was deeply affected by her exposure, in the latter context, to the horrors of the Balkan conflicts.
A dedicated teacher and scholar, Sharon Williams enriched the Canadian and international legal communities and made several pioneering and lasting contributions in her fields of expertise. Her passing is a loss not only to the Yearbook but also to the scholarly and legal communities in Canada and abroad.