Arms of Osgoode Hall Law School

Blazon

Per pale, dexter, Gules a Doric column Or ensigned by a beaver couchant proper and entwined about by an escrol Argent inscribed MAGNA CHARTA ANGLIÆ, meaning “The Magna Carta of England”, in letters Sable; sinister, per fess in chief Azure semé of millrinds a canton Or charged with a lion rampant Purpure (the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn), in base Azure a Pegasus forcene Argent (the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple);

Symbolism

The column, scroll and beaver appear on the seal, from 1823, of the Law Society of Upper Canada, which created and operated Osgoode Hall Law School until 1968. The beaver is a Canadian symbol, and the column represents Magna Carta as being the central pillar of the English legal tradition. The quarter of the shield with millrinds is the coat of arms of Lincoln’s Inn, one of the Inns of Court in London, England, to which William Osgoode, the first Chief Justice of Upper Canada and the school’s namesake, belonged. The quarter of the shield with the pegasus is the arms of the Inner Temple, the Inn of Court to which John White, Upper Canada’s first Attorney General, belonged.