Digital Commons Network^™

The Supreme Court Of Canada, Parliament And The Charter: Exploring The Limits Of The Judicial Function In Criminal Law, Patricia A. Fricker

LLM Theses

Two constitutional principles--constitutional supremacy and parliamentary supremacy--should not be treated as antagonistic. The task for the Supreme Court of Canada since its elevation as constitutional arbiter has been to find the balance between these two constitutional doctrines. It must do so within the limits prescribed by the judicial function. What are those limits in the context of criminal law? The definitional elements of the offence; the political and legal theory of classical liberalism; the Charter's constitutional, as opposed to statutory, character; the primacy of either crime control or due process values in judicial decision-making; the fluctuating balance in the criminal …