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Laws Of Desire: The Political Morality Of Public Sex, Elaine Craig

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In deciding cases that involve the intersection of criminal law and sexual mores, the courts are faced with the challenge of determining the appropriate moral framework from which to approach simultaneously private and social concerns. In indecency cases, Canadian courts historically employed a communitarian model of sexual morality based on the community’s standard of tolerance. However, the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent jurisprudence affirms a harm-based test, which relies upon and protects the fundamental values enshrined in the Canadian constitution. This article analyzes the Court’s decisions in R. v. Labaye and R. v. Kouri and demonstrates that these cases represent …