The year following his graduation from McGill, or in 1863, he was called to the bar of Quebec. No dreary novitiate awaited him. Almost immediately his talents won him recognition and he gained prominence as one of the younger members of the profession, by the important part which he took in the conduct of a number of notable criminal cases, including the Shehan, Havern, Kehoe and Considine murder cases and the Dunbar, Brown, Kearney and T. F. O’Brien frauds.
It is said that he had no superior in the conduct of election cases. He was successful in the Devlin-Ryan, Tansey-Malone and the James McShane-Loprairie contests and all these drew to him the attention and favorable comment of the profession. He was equally capable in the practice of civil law and was the legal representative of some of the largest contractors of the continent including men prominent in business in New York, Ottawa and Montreal. His legal counsel was sought by men of prominence again and again. Probably his last appearance as an advocate was when he represented the Dominion government in an arbitration with the province, the case being heard in the city of Quebec about 1894.
Judge Curran was created a king’s counsel by the Marquis of Lorne and was appointed secretary of the commission for the codification of the statutes of the first De Boucherville government. He was called to judiciary honor when made a puisne judge of the superior court, December 5, 1892. He was appointed solicitor general in the ministry of Sir John Thomas and continued to hold that office after Sir Mackenzie Bowell became premier. A contemporary writer said, “on the occasion of his appointment his lordship was congratulated by the press without distinction of party, both on public and personal grounds in acknowledgment of his ‘indefatigable efforts to promote the interests of his constituents’ and he was presented in 1890, chiefly by citizens in Montreal, with a purse of seven thousand dollars.” Judge Curran remained upon the bench for fourteen years and proved himself the peer of the ablest jurist who has gained the superior court bench. There were those who opposed him in the beginning, but all came to acknowledge his capability, his record being a credit and honor to the bench. His opinions were models of judicial soundness and his record as a jurist was such as any man might be proud to possess.
Politically his lordship was a liberal-conservative and he rendered valuable service to his party. He was elected by a large majority for Montreal Center to the house of commons in 1882, 1887 and again in 1891, and upon his appointment to the solicitor generalship of Canada in 1892 he was reelected by acclamation.
On the organization of a law faculty in connection with the University of Ottawa in 1892 Judge Curran was appointed to one of the legal chairs and elected vice dean. He was also a member of the senate of that university and president of its Alumni Association. As an orator he swayed all by his eloquence. He gained high rank as a lecturer and was frequently called upon to address public gatherings.
In religious faith Judge Curran was a most earnest Catholic and was ever watchful of opportunity to assist those of his faith in public or in private. While his health permitted he never failed to appear annually with his colleagues of the bench and bar in the Tete Dieu procession and his piety and devotion in the closing years of his life were an encouragement to the old and an edifying example for the young. As a Canadian his life work was one of conciliation and he strove to promote harmony between all creeds and colors. He accepted invitations to address gatherings of foreign colonists, and the Jews, Germans and Italians knew him well, while among the people of his nationality he was not only loved but respected. He yielded to none in the breadth of his sympathy and generous desire for the union of all denominations in the best and noblest objects. Following his elevation to the bench he said “that as a public man it had been his constant aim to bring about the union of hearts and minds among all creeds and classes,” and “he was satisfied that if we desired to have a prosperous country with a happy and contented people we could only secure those blessings by all creeds and classes uniting together for one common end, ‘the advancement and welfare of Canada and the empire.’” In August, 1896, Judge Curran was elected a delegate to the Irish Race convention, which met in Dublin in September of that year. He had previously been president of St. Patrick’s Society of Montreal and prior to his elevation to the bench was one of the directors of the True Witness Publishing Company. After his trip to the old country in 1907 the Burns Club honored him with an invitation to a banquet and to respond to a toast to the memory of Robert Burns. On rising to speak he said, that all had become brothers the world over since men of such intense love for Old Scotia had, here in our happy Canadian home, called upon a descendant of old Ireland to do honor to the name and fame of Scotland’s greatest bard. There are few, indeed, who have greater love for the land which shelters their race than had Judge Curran. He was perfectly familiar with Irish history, was a reader of Irish literature and a lover of Irish music, and he was an ardent and unflinching advocate of home rule.
In 1865 Judge Curran married Mary Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of the late Patrick Brennan of Montreal. His third son, Francis Joseph Curran, following his graduation from Manhattan University of New York and McGill University of Montreal, was called to the bar of his native province.
Something of the position which Judge Curran occupied in public regard is indicated in works written of him ere his demise, which occurred on October 1, 1909. Morgan in his volume of Canadian Men and Women said, “by the Irish community of Montreal he was regarded as one who had stood the test of devotion to their common fatherland, but it is to Canada that he has given his best service and by his fellow-Canadians, without distinction of origin or creed, he is held in the highest esteem and honor.” A Montreal citizen wrote of him, “he bears a character without reproach and is as popular in legal and political circles as he is respected.” The Montreal Gazette said editorially, “no constituency in Canada has ever had a representative who gave up more of his time, his talent and his energy to the promotion of its interests than did Mr. Curran during the thirteen years he has enjoyed the confidence of his electors. His genial kindly nature, his large-heartedness, his conspicuous liberality of mind, absolutely free from every trace of bigotry, and his splendid oratorical powers caused him to be in constant requisition whenever men were gathered together in the promotion of worthy objects for the discussion of public affairs or the advancement of the material and social welfare of the country.” The Montreal Herald concluded an admirable eulogy with the following paragraph: “Unselfishness and genuine consideration for others, probably explained his personal popularity and his political success. He used to say that the man in public life erred in dodging office seekers. ‘When I saw one who looked as if he wanted to get at me I always went to him first, and gave him his chance to speak,’ he once explained. He gave freely of his presence where he thought a good cause could be served, or a good example be set. He did his duty, as he saw it, without flinching. He was a good citizen, and he leaves a name to be held in honor.”