Professor Alastair Bissett-Johnson’s contribution to the study and the reform of family law spans the Commonwealth. He was a gentleman scholar yet also a feminist who argued for fairer treatment for women facing divorce. As an enthusiastic and entertaining teacher, he prepared his students for practice with a firm grip of how to practically apply — and challenge — the law.

Bissett-Johnson’s scholarly background, his training as a barrister and his appreciation of the sensitivities surrounding policy-making, made him a respected adviser of several Canadian regional governments and the Canadian Department of Justice. He made many of his most influential contributions to child and family law reform during this period. His breadth of knowledge and grasp of fine detail made him a persuasive critic.

He was born in 1941; his mother and father were both mental health nurses. His father died when he was 6. With a funded place he boarded at the Royal Masonic School for Boys at Bushey, Herts. Unhappy with the militaristic style of the school, he sought solace in the church choir. It was only his asthma that stood in the way of a career in music. Instead he went on to study law at Nottingham where he graduated in 1962 and won an English-Speaking Union/Fulbright Fellowship to study for a masters in international and comparative law at Michigan University. After completing his LLM he began his first teaching job at the University of Sheffield before moving to the University of Bristol.

It was in Bristol that he met his first wife, Dr Winnie Macpherson, and they married in 1967. He qualified as a barrister (Inner Temple) in 1969 and in the same year began a two-year secondment at Monash University in Melbourne. He qualified as a barrister and solicitor there too.

He returned to Britain in 1972 to the University of Leicester where he stayed until 1976. During this time he was a founder member and remained a member of the International Society of Family Law, an organisation set up to promote research, discussion and the advancement of legal education in family law with a heavy emphasis on international co-operation.

In 1976 he and Winnie moved to Montreal, where he took up the post of associate professor at McGill University. Winnie was unable to convert her medical practising certificate and took up a job in cancer research. Within the year Bissett-Johnson was offered a chair at Dalhousie University, Novia Scotia.

Bissett-Johnson was not afraid to roll up his sleeves and engage with his subject matter on a practical level. He was a member of the Nova Scotia child abuse team, 1977-84, based in the local children’s hospital. The team held case conferences and encouraged research and better understanding among professionals working in this area. He became involved in the production of a television series on Violence in the Nova Scotia Family, recognising that these serious social issues could best be brought home to a wider audience through television.

Through his raised profile and connection with the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, Bissett-Johnson received invitations to act as an adviser to a series of Canadian administrations on legislation relating to the status of women, wife battering and matrimonial property.

In 1982-83 he was seconded to act as co-ordinator of the Yukon government’s juvenile and family law reform where he became a co-drafter of the territory’s Children’s Act 1984. Based on this successful draftsmanship, the Canadian Department of Justice called on him the following year to review and advise on the reform of the Divorce Act 1985.

His reputation as a progressive but safe pair of hands gained him a position as adviser to the minister of community services, Nova Scotia, on reform of its Children’s Services Act in 1988-89, and an appointment to conduct a ministerial inquiry into reform of childcare law in Nova Scotia. He was subsequently a member of the team that drafted the Nova Scotia Children and Family Services Act 1990.

Bissett-Johnson’s writing was considerable at this time, more remarkable because he was also studying to qualify as a barrister and solicitor in Nova Scotia (1981) and in the Yukon (1982). As well as his own research, he had a lifetime commitment to encourage the research of others, channelled during this period through his positions as provincial editor of the Canadian Bar Review (1986-90) and assistant editor of the Dalhousie Law Journal (1986-90).

When Winnie had ovarian cancer diagnosed the couple returned to Britain in 1991. Bissett-Johnson took up the chair of family law at the University of Dundee. Winnie died the year after.