Law Commons^™

Les Représentations De «Société Libre Et Démocratique» A La Cour Dickson : La Rhétorique Dans Le Discours Judiciaire Canadien, Andree Lajoie, Regine Robin, Sebastien Grammond, Henry Quillinan, Louise Rolland, Stéphane Perrault, Armelle Chitrit

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The expression "free and democratic society" is the focus of our research, which sheds light on the contribution of the Supreme Court to the constitutionalization of this concept. Leaving aside the institutional and psycho-social factors, the study confirms the hypothesis that the interpretation of this expression will vary (1) according to the conceptions formerly held by the individual judges and (2) with respect to the factors favoured by a rhetorical Perelman-like analysis, which considers the factual and judicial context and the expectations of both the universal and specific audiences. At the Supreme Court level, the expectations of the latter should …