Law Commons^™

Book Review: The Once And Future King: The Rise Of Crown Government In America, Ronald D. Rotunda

Ronald D. Rotunda

If you want to understand your own language, learn a foreign tongue. Similarly, if you want to understand the American system of government, learn what our intellectual kin—Great Britain and Canada—have done. As Professor F.H. Buckley notes, “He who knows only his own country knows little enough of that.” He is one of the few people who has thoroughly mastered the legal structure and history of all three countries.

The Conservatives’ 2015 Fiscal Charter: A Wanting Desire For Constitutional Change, Brian Christopher Jones, Paolo Sandro

Brian Christopher Jones

In Defense Of Corporate Persons, Kent Greenfield

Kent Greenfield

This essay is a critique of this attack on corporate personhood. It explains that the corporate separateness - corporate “personhood” - is an important legal principle as a matter of corporate law. What’s more, as a matter of constitutional law, corporate “personhood” deserves a more nuanced analysis than has been typically offered in arguing in favor of an amendment to overturn Citizens United. Indeed, the concept of corporate “personhood” can in fact be marshaled in arguments against corporations being able to assert constitutional rights. In the nascent category of cases brought by corporations asserting rights of religious freedom, for example, …

Unenumerated Rights And The Limits Of Analogy: A Critque Of The Right To Medical Self-Defense, O. Carter Snead

O. Carter Snead

Volokh’s project stands or falls with the claim that the entitlement he proposes is of constitutional dimension. If there is no fundamental right to medical self-defense, the individual must, for better or worse, yield to the regulation of this domain in the name of the values agreed to by the political branches of government. Indeed, the government routinely restricts the instrumentalities of self-help (including self-defense) in the name of avoiding what it takes to be more significant harms. This same rationale accounts for current governmental limitations on access to unapproved drugs and the current ban on organ sales. The FDA …

Section 1983 Litigation: Supreme Court Review, Erwin Chemerinsky, Martin A. Schwartz

Martin A. Schwartz

No abstract provided.

Section 1983 Civil Rights Litigation Colloquium, Erwin Chemerinsky, Martin A. Schwartz

Martin A. Schwartz

No abstract provided.

Section 1983 Cases In The October 2004 Term, Martin A. Schwartz

Martin A. Schwartz

No abstract provided.

Supreme Court 2003-2004 Term: The § 1983 Decisions, Martin A. Schwartz

Martin A. Schwartz

No abstract provided.

Dangerous Dicta, David Gray

David C. Gray

In United States v. Heller, the Court held that individuals have a Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms apart from their associations with state militias. Although that holding was and remains controversial, less attention has been paid to what the Heller Court had to say about the Fourth Amendment. Writing for the Court in Heller, Justice Scalia asserts that the phrase “right of the people” in the Fourth Amendment “unambiguously refers to individual rights, not ‘collective’ rights or rights that may only be exercised through participation in some corporate body.” By any definition, this is dicta. It is …

The New Battleground For Same-Sex Couples Is Equal Rights For Their Kids, Tanya Washington

Tanya Monique Washington

No abstract provided.

Access To Justice For A New Century: The Way Forward, Julia H. Bass, W. A. Bogart, Frederick H. Zemans

Frederick H. Zemans

This book is a timely addition to the literature on access to justice. The book's essays address all aspects of the topic, including differing views on the meaning of access to justice; ways to improve access to legal services; litigation and its role in achieving social justice; and the roles of lawyers, citizens, and legal insitutions.

Access to Justice for a New Century is based on papers given at an international symposium presented by the Law Society of Upper Canada, sponsored by the Law Foundation of Ontario.

My "Very Idea" Of Rod - And Yours, Harry Arthurs

Harry Arthurs

Text of introductory address to symposium The Unbounded Level of the Mind: Rod Macdonald's Legal Imagination, held at McGill University's Faculty of Law, February 7-8, 2014. The author expresses his admiration and affection for Prof Maconald, taking as his clue something he says frequently and in various formulations: “The very idea of law [he says] must be autobiographical”. [Roderick A. Macdonald & Martha-Marie Kleinhans, "What is a Critical Legal Pluralism?" Canadian Journal of Law and Society , 12 (1997), 25-46, 46]. Quote: "If that’s true, then the “very idea” of Rod himself must be “autobiographical”. I’m therefore going to begin …

The "Majestic Equality" Of The Law: Why Constitutional Strategies Do Not Produce Equality, Harry Arthurs

Harry Arthurs

Paper Presented at a workshop on Equality, at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Nantes, France, in June, 2014. Two epidemiological studies — the Whitehall Studies of 1967 and 1988 — famously demonstrated that socio-economic status is a primary determinant of health outcomes. By locating a large cohort of British civil servants on a social-class gradient, researchers were able to show that individuals at successively lower levels on that gradient experienced diminishing prospects of good health and longevity. This conclusion was complemented by subsequent studies that concluded that degrees of inequality in a society — rather than absolute levels of wealth …

Constitutional Courage, Harry W. Arthurs

Harry Arthurs

In this lecture, Professor Arthurs argues that we are currently in need of "constitutional courage"-the courage to say "no" to ambitious projects of constitutional reform and constitutional litigation as a way to solve our pressing social and political problems. Professor Arthurs first lays out why our current obsession with the constitution is problematic. He insists that we do not even know what the supposed "supreme law of Canada" actually is, what it says, or even what it does. Moreover, instead of transforming society, the current "cult of constitutionalism" has only served to transform legal practice and scholarship. ei then surmises …

Legal Pluralism And Legal Universalism In A Global Context, Neil Walker, Peer Zumbansen

Peer Zumbansen

Neil Walker, Regius Professor of Public Law and the Law of Nature and Nations, Edinburgh School of Law, speaks about "constitutional pluralism" in a global context. He explores the insights constitutional pluralism brings to transnational law, why it's particularly pertinent to the European Union, and the extent to which these insights might translate to the global stage. Respondent: Peer Zumbansen, Osgoode Hall Law School.

Europe's Darker Legacies; Notes On Mirror Reflections, The Constitution As Fetish, And Other Such Linkages Between The Past And The Future Darker Legacies Of Law In Europe; The Shadow Of National Socialism And Fascism Over Europe And Its Legal Traditions Edited, By Christian Joerges And Navraj Singh Ghaleigh (Eds); European Constitutionalism Beyond The State, By J. H. H. Weiler And Marlene Wind (Eds), Peer Zumbansen

Peer Zumbansen

No abstract provided.

"Son Of Sam" And His Legislative Offspring: The Constitutionality Of Stripping Criminals Of Their Literary Profits, Alan N. Young

Alan N. Young

We have seen in recent years a growing demand to recognize the victims’ rights and needs. In Canadian jurisdictions this has resulted in the introduction of victims-witness assistance programs that are designed to provide support to a victim of crime throughout the court process. Compensation boards have also been set up to provide financial remuneration w those who have suffered injury or loss at the hands of the perpetrator of the crime. In the United States, however, a more aggressive scheme for providing victim redress has been adopted by a number of the state legislatures. These "Son of Sam" laws, …

When Titans Clash - The Limits Of Constitutional Adjudication, Alan N. Young

Alan N. Young

The newspaper headline read: "Court rules against rape victims: Advocates shocked as judges give accused right to demand private counselling records." I Once again, members of the public are left with the impression that the Supreme Court of Canada has awarded the spoils of battle to the accused at the expense of sexual assault complainants. In this comment, I hope to demonstrate two critical points. First, in fairness to the court, it cannot be asserted that the court has afforded sexual assault victims less protection than other victims and/or witnesses who have legitimate expectations of informational privacy which they wish …

Are National Class Actions Constitutional?: A Reply To Hogg And Mckee, Janet Walker

Janet Walker

This article argues that there is no constitutional impediment to the certification of multijurisdictional class actions by provincial superior courts, and no constitutional requirement to confine plaintiff classes to those in which each claim has a real and substantial connection to the forum. Neither the text of the Constitution nor the constitutionally mandated rules of the conflict of laws restrict court jurisdiction in this way. Rather, the principles of order and fairness require Canadian courts to exercise jurisdiction over multi-jurisdictional class actions in a way that maximizes the objectives of class actions, and minimizes the incidence of overlapping classes and …

Cosmopolitanism And Constitutional Self-Government, Vlad Perju, Matt Grellette, François Tanguay-Renaud

François Tanguay-Renaud

Vlad Perju, Assistant Professor, Boston College Law School, discusses the jurisprudential foundations that make domestic constitutionalism a welcoming host to cosmopolitan attitudes and sensibilities in law.

Respondent: Matt Grellette, McMaster University.

Emergency Powers And Constitutional Theory, Victor V. Ramraj, François Tanguay-Renaud, Michael Guidice

François Tanguay-Renaud

Drawing on the experiences of aspiring constitutional orders in Southeast Asia (East Timor, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand) with emergency powers, Victor V. Ramraj, National University of Singapore, seeks to shift the attention of constitutional theorists away from parochial debates, towards an understanding of constitutional theory and emergency powers that extends beyond the familiar domain of liberal democracies.

respondent: François Tanguay-Renaud Osgoode

Captive Audience Meetings And Forced Listening: Lessons For Canada From The American Experience, Sara Slinn

Sara Slinn

Widespread adoption of mandatory representation votes and express protection of employer speech invite employer anti-union campaigns during union organizing, including employer-held captive audience meetings. Therefore, the problem of whether and how to restrict employers’ captive audience communications during union organizing is of renewed relevance in Canada. Captive meetings are a long-standing feature of American labour relations. This article considers how treatment of captive meetings evolved in the U.S., including the notion of employee choice, the “marketplace of ideas” view of expression dominating the American debate, and the central role of the contest between constitutional and statutory rights. It also considers …

Covenant Constitutionalism And The Canada Assistance Plan, Craig M. Scott

Craig M. Scott

No abstract provided.

Canadian Constitutional Law, Fourth Edition, Patrick Macklem, Carol Rogerson, Joel Bakan, Jean Leclair, John Borrows, Ian Lee, Sujit Choudhry, Richard Moon, Robin Elliot, R. C. B. Risk, Jean-François Gaudreault-Desbiens, Kent Roach, Donna Greschner, Bruce Ryder, Patricia Hughes, David Schneiderman, Lorraine Weinrib

Bruce B. Ryder

In its 4th edition, Canadian Constitutional Law continues to offer a truly national perspective — drawing on an editorial team that is rich with regional, linguistic, and scholarly diversity. This edition remains true to the structure and purposes of previous editions, especially with regard to the editors’ commitment to the idea that understanding constitutional history is critical to comprehending the present and future of Canadian constitutional law.

Identity And Difference, Sujit Choudhry, Avigail Eisenberg, Bruce Ryder

Bruce B. Ryder

Sujit Choudhry, New York University School of Law, presents "Rights Adjudication in a Plurinational State: The Canadian Charter and the Case of Religion." Avigail Eisenberg, University of Victoria, Department of Political Science, presents "Rights in the Age of Identity Politics." The discussant is Bruce Ryder, Osgoode Hall Law School.

Is It Time To Stop Tinkering With The Machinery Of Death?, Alan E. Garfield

Alan E Garfield

No abstract provided.

The Meaning Of Hobby Lobby: Bedrooms, Boardrooms & Burdens, Anne Tucker

Anne Tucker

No abstract provided.

The Most Difficult Right, Sonia Lawrence

Sonia Lawrence

No abstract provided.

Interpretation And Accommodation, John Borrows, Colleen Sheppard, Sonia Lawrence

Sonia Lawrence

John Borrows, University of Minnesota, Faculty of Law, presents "Aboriginal and Treaty Rights and Violence against Women." Colleen Sheppard, McGill University, Faculty of Law, presents "Inclusion, Voice, and Process-Based Constitutionalism." The discussant is Sonia Lawrence, Osgoode Hall Law School.

A New Subtlety In Judicial Supremacy: Review Of Constitutional Cases, The 2003-04 Term, Sonia Lawrence

Sonia Lawrence

No abstract provided.