Patrick "Paddy" James Nolan (March 3, 1862 in Limerick, Ireland – February 10, 1913 in Calgary, Alberta) was an early Canadian 'frontier' lawyer, whose fame as "the greatest wit in the west" has led to stories and legends in Canadian folklore about his criminal law

Criminal law

Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...

 practice in Calgary.

Nolan moved to Calgary in 1889, and located his office above the Calgary Herald

Calgary Herald

The Calgary Herald is a daily newspaper published in the Canadian city of Calgary, Alberta.- History :The paper was first published on August 31, 1883 by Andrew Armour and Thomas Braden as The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate and General Advertiser. It started as a weekly paper with only...

 printing house, which led to his friendship with journalist Norman Luxton

Norman Luxton

Norman K. Luxton was a pioneer in the Canadian Rockies known as "Mr. Banff" . With John Voss, he attempted to sail around the world in a dug-out canoe...

. He was widely known as a hard-drinking lawyer with a sharp wit and a skill for defending the underprivileged class of society. Some of his clients included Caroline FulhamHe had an enduring friendship with the legendary journalist Bob Edwards, founder of the Eye-Opener.

A well-known tale recounts how Nolan's physical resemblance to Minister of the Interior Thomas Mayne Daly

Thomas Mayne Daly

Thomas Mayne Daly, was a Canadian politician.Born in Stratford, Canada West , the son of Thomas Mayne Daly and Helen McLaren Daly, his father was a member of the Canadian House of Commons for the riding of Perth North.He was educated as a lawyer and was called to the Bar of Upper Canada in 1876...

 often led to the two being confused for each other. Once, after Daly had jokingly angered a legal client of Nolan's by impersonating the lawyer, Nolan got his revenge by refusing to grant a patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

 to a prospective homesteader, insisting that the Ministry of the Interior would require a bribe in order to look at his file - leading to Daly sending Nolan a note several days later about the "bad name" that the Ministry was getting due to his hijinx.

In 1894, Nolan and his wife Mary Elizabeth Lee had a son, Henry Grattan Nolan

Henry Grattan Nolan

Henry Grattan Nolan, was a Canadian lawyer and jurist.Born in Calgary, Alberta, the son of Patrick James "Paddy" Nolan, a criminal defence lawyer, and Mary Elizabeth Lee, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Alberta in 1914 and was awarded a Rhodes scholarship for Alberta...

, who would later go on to serve as Canada's judge on the 1945-1948 International Military Tribunal for the Far East

International Military Tribunal for the Far East

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East , also known as the Tokyo Trials, the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, or simply the Tribunal, was convened on April 29, 1946, to try the leaders of the Empire of Japan for three types of crimes: "Class A" crimes were reserved for those who...

 in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

and who was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1956.