Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 15 of 15

Full-Text Articles in Law

Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide In The Post-Rodriguez Era: Lessons From Foreign Jurisdictions, Michael Cormack Oct 2000

Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide In The Post-Rodriguez Era: Lessons From Foreign Jurisdictions, Michael Cormack

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are highly controversial subjects that have drawn much attention in Canada over the last two decades. This paper outlines how the Netherlands, the United States, Australia, and Canada have approached the practices. Jurisprudence, public opinion polls, legislative developments, and the positions of medical organizations and their members are included in the analysis. A number of arguments for and against the continued prohibition of the practices in Canada are evaluated. As well, information regarding the extent to which euthanasia and assisted suicide are performed in these countries is assessed. It will be shown that Canadians currently enjoy …


Race And The Australian Constitution: From Federation To Reconciliation, George Williams Oct 2000

Race And The Australian Constitution: From Federation To Reconciliation, George Williams

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The framing of the Australian Constitution initiated a pattern of discrimination against Australia's Indigenous peoples. They were cast as outsiders to the nation brought about in 1901. This pattern was broken in 1967 by the deletion of the discriminatory provisions from the Constitution. Today, there is strong community support in Australia for the reconciliation process, which would involve recognition of Indigenous peoples as an integral and unique component of the Australian nation. However, this has yet to be translated into substantive legal outcomes. The author analyses the interaction of issues of race and the Australian Constitution as it has affected …


Poor Canadian Legal Education: So Near To Wall Street, So Far From God, Harry W. Arthurs Jul 2000

Poor Canadian Legal Education: So Near To Wall Street, So Far From God, Harry W. Arthurs

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The recent appearance of recruiters from Wall Street firms at several Canadian law schools, and the recent hiring by American law schools of several mid-career Canadian law professors, has created a "moral panic" as journalists, academics and law firms have expressed great concern over the loss of Canada's "best and brightest" to the United States. Properly understood as part of a larger debate about globalization and regional economic integration, these developments are less important in themselves than for what they reveal about the present and future of the Canadian state, and the Canadian business community, legal profession and universities.


Challenges For Cause, Stand-Asides, And Peremptory Challenges In The Nineteenth Century, R. Blake Brown Jul 2000

Challenges For Cause, Stand-Asides, And Peremptory Challenges In The Nineteenth Century, R. Blake Brown

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article examines the substantial differences that emerged during the nineteenth century between the law of England, the United States, and Canada regarding challenges for cause, stand-asides, and peremptory challenges in the jury selection process. The author argues that these differences stemmed from the unique social conditions of each country. The emergence of legal formalism-with its emphasis on certainty and predictability in the law-affected the development of jury challenges, though the result of formalist thinking had very different effects in all three jurisdictions. In addition, Canadian law regarding jury challenges reveals the influence of both American and English legal trends.


A Legal And Psychological Critique Of The Present Approach To The Assessment Of The Competence Of Child Witnesses, Nicholas Bala, Kang Lee, Rod Lindsay, Victoria Talwar Jul 2000

A Legal And Psychological Critique Of The Present Approach To The Assessment Of The Competence Of Child Witnesses, Nicholas Bala, Kang Lee, Rod Lindsay, Victoria Talwar

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The Canada Evidence Act requires an inquiry to determine whether a child has the requisite moral and intellectual capacity to testify. Caselaw suggests that a child must demonstrate an understanding of abstract concepts like "truth" and "promise" to be competent to testify. This article reports on a survey of Ontario justice system professionals, revealing significant variation in how judges conduct competency inquiries. Children are often asked about religious beliefs and practices, and are frequently asked developmentally inappropriate questions. The authors also report on their experimental research which indicates that children's ability to explain such abstract concepts as "truth," "lie," and …


The Dissenting Opinion: Voice Of The Future?, Claire L'Heureux-Dube Jul 2000

The Dissenting Opinion: Voice Of The Future?, Claire L'Heureux-Dube

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Madame Justice L'Heureux-Dubé explores the history and the role of dissenting opinions in Canadian law. She argues that dissents contribute to the development of the law through their prophetic potential. Dissents are also fundamental elements of judicial discourse, serving to safeguard the integrity of the decisionmaking process and judicial independence. The Canadian legal tradition, like its American counterpart, provides numerous examples of why, in 1951, future Chief Justice Bora Laskin praised the "precious right" to dissent. Unanimity is not indispensable for judicial legitimacy or legal stability. In fact, the presence of judicious dissents can portray the true complexity of legal …


"Are We There Yet?": Towards A New Rule For Choice Of Law In Tort, Janet Walker Apr 2000

"Are We There Yet?": Towards A New Rule For Choice Of Law In Tort, Janet Walker

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The Supreme Court's effort to establish certainty in this area by basing a firm rule on a clear theory has failed. The intention was laudable but the proposed theory bore little relation to the courts' adjudicative concerns; and the rule sometimes produced injustice, prompting courts to circumvent it. This article considers the brief history of choice of law in tort and recent developments in common law and civil law jurisdictions, and suggests a new theory and a new rule (based on principles of tort law rather than public international law) which are likely to increase certainty by promoting fairness.


Réflexions Sur La Codification Du Droit Privé, Paul-A. Crepeau Apr 2000

Réflexions Sur La Codification Du Droit Privé, Paul-A. Crepeau

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Within the framework of a broader research into the sources of the civil law of obligations, the author starts, here, from the historical fact that, on the one hand, the private law of Québec constitutes, since 1866, and contrary to the common law, an essentially legislated system, in the form of a Civil Code enacted in the French civilian tradition, and that, on the other hand, that form was maintained in the 1994 new Civil Code of Quebec. In reflecting on the method of codification, on the basis of various definitions of the term code, the author presents and analyzes …


The Rome Statute On The International Criminal Court: From 1947-2000 And Beyond, Sharon A. Williams Apr 2000

The Rome Statute On The International Criminal Court: From 1947-2000 And Beyond, Sharon A. Williams

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

On 17 July 1998 the International Criminal Court Statute was adopted in Rome by the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries. It will become operative once sixty states have ratified. It will have subject matter jurisdiction over genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and in the future aggression once an appropriate definition has been agreed upon. It is the culmination of work that began in United Nations history in 1947. Its intent is to replace the cycle of impunity for some of the most heinous international crimes with accountability. The philosophical and practical underpinnings of the ICC are deterrence, prosecution …


Commodifying Justice For Global Free Trade: The Proposed Hague Judgments Convention, Vaughan Black Apr 2000

Commodifying Justice For Global Free Trade: The Proposed Hague Judgments Convention, Vaughan Black

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

A notable omission from the legal apparatus for international free trade is a multilateral agreement on court jurisdiction and enforcement of foreign country judgments. However, negotiations toward such an international convention are in progress. This paper explores the background to those discussions. It examines the current draft of the proposed judgments convention with particular reference to the way in which implementation of that draft would affect Canadians engaged in the practice of international commercial litigation. It concludes with a discussion of current sticking points in the negotiations, and with commentary on the judgment enforcement scene and the implications of failure …


L'Intégration Des Valeurs Et Des Intérêts Autochtones Dans Le Discours Judiciaire Et Normatif Canadien, Andrée Lajoie, Eric Gélineau, Isabelle Duplessis, Guy Rocher Jan 2000

L'Intégration Des Valeurs Et Des Intérêts Autochtones Dans Le Discours Judiciaire Et Normatif Canadien, Andrée Lajoie, Eric Gélineau, Isabelle Duplessis, Guy Rocher

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article aims to define the degree to which values presented by groups representing Aboriginal interests in the Supreme Court of Canada have been integrated into the discourse of the Court and the decisions of political actors in Canada. The authors' analysis confirms the hypothesis that the Court, in contrast to its favourable treatment of private claims made by social minorities, is less receptive to the claims made by Aboriginals, a political minority whose claims are centered on political power and territory, issues that have been relegated to political negotiations. The significant difference between judicial and political decisionmakers concerning Aboriginal …


The Constitutional Legacy Of Chief Justice Brian Dickson, Robert J. Sharpe Jan 2000

The Constitutional Legacy Of Chief Justice Brian Dickson, Robert J. Sharpe

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Chief Justice Brian Dickson played a central role in the elaboration of the fundamental values of the Canadian Constitution. He took a balanced approach to federalism, favouring neither federal nor provincial claims and inviting cooperation through overlapping jurisdiction. Dickson transformed the rule of law from a background value to an operative constitutional principle. His judgments on the rights of minorities reflect a remarkable empathy for the plight of the disadvantaged. Democracy informed all aspects of his constitutional thinking. Dickson rejected the contention that judicial review is anti-democratic, and his constitutional legacy reflects a sustained effort to harmonize all four fundament …


Bill 11, The Canada Health Act And The Social Union: The Need For Institutions, Sujit Choudhry Jan 2000

Bill 11, The Canada Health Act And The Social Union: The Need For Institutions, Sujit Choudhry

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article argues that the debate over the future of Medicare has been dominated by financial considerations at the expense of an examination of the place of supervisory institutions in the health care system. Supervisory institutions will be of central importance to the future of Medicare because any future system will include some national standards, which, to be effective, must be interpreted, applied and enforced by institutions of some kind. This article focuses on two specific institutional questions: the dismal record of federal enforcement of the existing national standards of the Canada Health Act, and the pressing need for dispute-settlement …


Law's Expression: The Promise And Perils Of Judicial Opinion Writing In Canadian Constitutional Law, Paul Horwitz Jan 2000

Law's Expression: The Promise And Perils Of Judicial Opinion Writing In Canadian Constitutional Law, Paul Horwitz

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article argues that there is a link between one's theory of constitutional law, and one's judgments about style in judicial opinion writing. It identifies several special functions of the constitutional opinion, including the democratic function of responding to the counter-majoritarian difficulty through an act of public justification, and the inter-generational function of provoking a temporally extended dialogue about constitutional values. Drawing on these functions, it argues for an opinion writing style dubbed "open-textured minimalism," that seeks to resolve cases narrowly, articulate fundamental values and principles, and spark long-term debates about the underlying constitutional values supporting each decision. The author …


Left Out In The Cold: The Problem With Aboriginal Title Under Section 35(1) Of The Constitution Act, 1982 For Historically Nomadic Aboriginal Peoples, Brian J. Burke Jan 2000

Left Out In The Cold: The Problem With Aboriginal Title Under Section 35(1) Of The Constitution Act, 1982 For Historically Nomadic Aboriginal Peoples, Brian J. Burke

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

In R. v. Adams and Delgamuukw v. British Columbia, the Supreme Court of Canada made statements to the effect that certain historically nomadic Aboriginal groups may be unable to make out a claim for Aboriginal title under section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982. In light of the anthropological evidence relating to the close connection some of these groups enjoyed with the lands they occupied, a serious injustice may arise if these groups are indeed barred from an Aboriginal title claim. The author attempts to correct this potential injustice by demonstrating that at least some of these historically nomadic groups …