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Do Bills Of Rights Matter?: An Examination Of Court Change, Judicial Ideology, And The Support Structure For Rights In Canada, Donald R. Songer, Susan W. Johnson, Jennifer Barnes Bowie
Do Bills Of Rights Matter?: An Examination Of Court Change, Judicial Ideology, And The Support Structure For Rights In Canada, Donald R. Songer, Susan W. Johnson, Jennifer Barnes Bowie
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
Competing theories regarding the development of a “rights revolution” in Canada have appeared in the judicial and constitutional literature in recent years. On the one hand, scholars argue that the profound effects often attributed to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms are substantially overstated, and conventional analyses have overlooked the more important role of changes in what is called the “support structure” for rights. Others have advanced a competing theory that the Charter created an expansion of civil liberties. We take advantage of an extensive dataset on the decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada to provide a more systematic …
The Supreme Court Of Canada And Constitutional (Equality) Baselines, Rosalind Dixon
The Supreme Court Of Canada And Constitutional (Equality) Baselines, Rosalind Dixon
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
In its approach to defining “analogous grounds” for the purposes of subsection 15(1) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Supreme Court of Canada has adopted an unusual mix of broad and generous interpretation, and high formalism. This article argues that one potential reason for this is the degree of heterogeneity among the nine distinct enumerated grounds in section 15. Heterogeneity of this kind can produce quite different interpretive consequences, depending on whether a court adopts a direct, “multi-pronged,” or a more synthetic, “common denominator,” approach to the question of analogical development. The Court, over time, has implicitly shifted …
The Charter's Influence Around The World, Mark Tushnet
The Charter's Influence Around The World, Mark Tushnet
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
Over the past several decades, the influence of the United States Constitution and Supreme Court around the world has waned while that of the Canadian Charter and Supreme Court has increased. This article examines several reasons for these changes, including: the relative ages of the constitutions; the US Supreme Court’s recent conservatism; the Canadian Supreme Court’s role in developing the doctrine of proportionality; the US Supreme Court’s interest in originalism; differing structures of constitutional review and judicial supremacy; and the two Courts’ relative openness to transnational influences.