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Articles 1 - 30 of 50
Full-Text Articles in Law
Physicians' Attitudes, Concerns, And Procedural Understanding Of Medical Aid-In-Dying In Vermont, Teresa Ditommaso, Ari P. Kirshenbaum, Brendan Parent
Physicians' Attitudes, Concerns, And Procedural Understanding Of Medical Aid-In-Dying In Vermont, Teresa Ditommaso, Ari P. Kirshenbaum, Brendan Parent
Dalhousie Law Journal
The general purpose of the current study was to collect data on physicians' attitudes towards Act 39, the medical aid-in-dying act that was legislatively approved in 2013. Given the recent nature of the implementation of Act 39, this is the first such study to be conducted in the State of Vermont. The survey was quantitative in nature and addressed three distinct aspects of legalized prescribing of life-ending medication, these being physicians': (I) attitudes regarding ethics and legality of Act 39, (11)understandings of the policies and procedural requirements under the law, including their belief in legal immunity from penalty, and (I1) …
Informing The Future Of End-Of-Life Care In Canada: Lessons From The Quebec Legislative Experience, Michelle Giroux
Informing The Future Of End-Of-Life Care In Canada: Lessons From The Quebec Legislative Experience, Michelle Giroux
Dalhousie Law Journal
There have been numerous and challenging developments respecting endof-life care in Canada. In Quebec, political consensus and changes in public opinion led to the adoption of end-of-life care legislation. This paper discusses the context and foundation of that reform and reviews its content with the objective of informing the future of end-of-life care in Canada. In the first part of the paper I explore the balancing of the right to life and autonomy, with a focus on the approach chosen in Quebec by the Legal Experts Panel Report. In Part 11, I discuss Quebec's adoption of An Act Respecting End-of-Life …
And Miles To Go Before I Sleep: The Future Of End-Of-Life Law And Policy In Canada, Jocelyn Downie
And Miles To Go Before I Sleep: The Future Of End-Of-Life Law And Policy In Canada, Jocelyn Downie
Dalhousie Law Journal
This paper reviews the legal status of a number ofend-of-life law and policy issues that have, to date, been overshadowed by debates about medical assistance in dying. It suggests that law reform is needed in relation to palliative sedation without artificial hydration and nutrition, advance directives for the withholding and withdrawal of oral hydration and nutrition, unilateral withholding and withdrawal of potentially life-sustaining treatment, and the determination of death. To leave the law in its current uncertain state is to leavepatients vulnerable to having no access to interventions that they want or at the other extreme, being forced to receive …
Out Of The Black Hole: Toward A Fresh Approach To Tort Causation, Allan C. Hutchinson
Out Of The Black Hole: Toward A Fresh Approach To Tort Causation, Allan C. Hutchinson
Dalhousie Law Journal
The present state of Canadian doctrine on causation in tort law is in serious disarray Judges and jurists persist in thinking that it is a factual inquiry separate from policy concerns. This is made obvious in the recent Supreme Court decision in Clements and in the academic commentary around it. In contrast, I insist that the requirement of causation must be understood as being entirely part of the broader debate on the goals and policies of tort law generally Causation is a topic drenched with normative values and should be treated as such.
Death To Semelhago!, Bruce Ziff
Death To Semelhago!, Bruce Ziff
Dalhousie Law Journal
In the 1996 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Semelhago v. Paramadevan, Justice John Sopinka stated that it is no longer appropriate to assume that specific performance will issue as a matter of course to enforce a contract for the sale of land. Before performance will be ordered, it must be proven (and not assumed) that common law damages for breach of contract will not suffice to do justice. In this article, Semel hago and the case law generated in its aftermath will be reviewed, and the policy arguments pertaining to the current law addressed. In short, it …
Agonizing Identity In Mental Health Law And Policy (Part Ii):A Political Taxonomy Of Psychiatric Subjectification, Sheila Wildeman
Agonizing Identity In Mental Health Law And Policy (Part Ii):A Political Taxonomy Of Psychiatric Subjectification, Sheila Wildeman
Dalhousie Law Journal
This is the second part of a two-part essay exploring the function of identity in mental health law and policy or more broadly the function of identity in the politics of mental health. Part one began with the Foucauldian exhortation to undertake a "critical ontology of ourselves," and adopted the methodology of autoethnography to explore the construction or constructedness of the authors identity as an expert working in the area of mental health law and policy. That part concluded with a gesture of resistance to identification on one or the other side of the mental health/ illness divide (the divide …
Criminal Law And The Counter-Hegemonic Potential Of Harm Reduction, Alana Klein
Criminal Law And The Counter-Hegemonic Potential Of Harm Reduction, Alana Klein
Dalhousie Law Journal
Harm reduction approaches to drug use have been lauded for saving lives, being cost-effective, elevating pragmatism over prohibitionist ideology, being flexible in tailoring responses to the problem, and for their counter-hegemonic potential to empower people who use drugs. This article examines the legal systems engagement with harm reduction, and, in particular,recent cases that incorporate harm reduction s focus on empirical evidence in policy making into Canadian constitutional rights jurisprudence. It argues that harm reduction approaches in this venue may hold promise as a bulwark against some of the marginalizing features of traditional criminaljustice approaches. However, the article also warns of …
Agonizing Identity In Mental Health Law And Policy (Part I), Sheila Wildeman
Agonizing Identity In Mental Health Law And Policy (Part I), Sheila Wildeman
Dalhousie Law Journal
In this two-part paper, the author explores the significance of identity in mental health law and policy In this as in other socio-legal domains, identity functions to consolidate dissent as well as to effect social control. The author asks: where do legal experts stand in relation to the identity categories that run so deep in this area oflaw and policy? More broadly, she asks: is "mentalhealth" working on uson the mental health disabled, legal scholars, all of us-in ways that are impairing our capacity for socialjustice? In the first part of the paper, the author considers the Foucauldian exhortation to …
The Contract Of Employment At The Supreme Court Of Canada: Employee Protection And The Presumption Of Employer Freedom, Gillian Demeyere
The Contract Of Employment At The Supreme Court Of Canada: Employee Protection And The Presumption Of Employer Freedom, Gillian Demeyere
Dalhousie Law Journal
This article critically examines the Supreme Court of Canada's treatment of the contract of employment in its wrongful dismissal jurisprudence over the last 25 years, with the aim of challenging the view that only by exempting the contract of employment from the ordinary workings of contract doctrine or by resorting to public policy considerations can the common law of dismissal provide adequate protection for employees. The Court's jurisprudence reveals a commitment to what this paper calls the presumption of employer freedom, a view of the contract of employment which has its origins in the status-based master and servant relationship and …
The Judicial Regulation Of Lawyers In Canada, Amy Salyzyn
The Judicial Regulation Of Lawyers In Canada, Amy Salyzyn
Dalhousie Law Journal
The question of whether Canadian lawyers ought to be trusted to govern themselves has been repeatedly raised by the public, policy-makers and the academy over the past several decades. The legal profession has responded on a number of fronts, adopting what has been characterized as a "regime of defensive self-regulation." The analysis in this article complements and complicates this account by arguing that, alongside the profession's efforts at defensive self-regulation, there has been a steady stream of aggressive judicial regulation. The central argument of this article is two-fold: first, that courts have come to occupy an increasingly active role as …
Confidential Information And Governments: Balancing The Public's Right To Access Government Records And An Oil And Gas Company's Right To Protect Confidential Information, Stephen Burns, Todd Newhook, Sébastien Gittens
Confidential Information And Governments: Balancing The Public's Right To Access Government Records And An Oil And Gas Company's Right To Protect Confidential Information, Stephen Burns, Todd Newhook, Sébastien Gittens
Dalhousie Law Journal
This paper explores the relationship between the public's right to access records in the custody or under the control of the government with the oil and gas industry's need to protect its confidential information from disclosure. Focusing on practical issues, the authors review the law of confidence, the structure of the access to information legislation and related case law, the public policy considerations supporting same, and some of the risks and pitfalls that organizations can avoid if they consider such legislation when interacting with public bodies.
Trauma-Informed Approaches To Law: Why Restorative Justice Must Understand Trauma And Psychological Coping, Melanie Randall, Lori Haskell
Trauma-Informed Approaches To Law: Why Restorative Justice Must Understand Trauma And Psychological Coping, Melanie Randall, Lori Haskell
Dalhousie Law Journal
Becoming trauma informed entails becoming more astutely aware of the ways in which people who are traumatized have their life trajectories shaped by the experience and its effects, and developing policies and practices which reflect this understanding. The idea that lawand, in particular the criminaljustice system, should be trauma informed is novel, and, as a result, quite underdeveloped. In this paper we advance the general argument that more effective, fair, intelligent, and just legal responses must work from a perspective which is trauma informed. We specifically apply this argument to legal work being carried out and developed under the rubric …
Thresholds Of Actionable Mental Harm In Negligence: A Policy-Based Appraisal, Louise Bélanger-Hardy
Thresholds Of Actionable Mental Harm In Negligence: A Policy-Based Appraisal, Louise Bélanger-Hardy
Dalhousie Law Journal
Common law courts, in Canada and elsewhere, currently insist on proof of a recognizable psychiatric illness (RPI) before granting damages to plaintiffs seeking compensation for stand-alone mental harm caused by negligent acts. This article argues that the time has come to revisit this well-entrenched principle. The inquiry focuses specifically on the policy concerns underlying the current rule. As a first step, policy considerations for and against limiting the extent of actionable mental harm are canvassed and assessed. The author concludes that some of the perceived advantages of the RPI rule, in particular predictability,are debatable and that insistence on the traditional …
The Tabling Of International Treaties Inthe Parliament Of Canada: The First Four Years, Ted L. Mcdorman
The Tabling Of International Treaties Inthe Parliament Of Canada: The First Four Years, Ted L. Mcdorman
Dalhousie Law Journal
In January 2008, the government ofCanada announced the adoption of the policy that international treaties would be tabled in the House of Commons following their signature or adoption and prior to Canada formally notifying its intention to be bound by the treaty. This article provides an overview of the Tabling Policy, the domestic legal structure of treaty-making in Canada, a description of the international instruments that have been tabled under the Policy from 2008 to 2011, and a review of the one treaty that has been discussed at length in the House of Commons.
The Continuum Of International Maritime Law And Canadian Maritime Law: Explaining A Complex Relationship, Aldo Chircop, Sarah Shiels
The Continuum Of International Maritime Law And Canadian Maritime Law: Explaining A Complex Relationship, Aldo Chircop, Sarah Shiels
Dalhousie Law Journal
This article discusses the relationship between international maritime law and Canadian maritime law from legislative and judicial perspectives. It explains the relationship through Canada's implementation of international maritime conventions and a study of Canadian case law The article concludes that the relationship has a well-developed pattern based on legislative structures and judicial processes. With strong historical roots and traditions, the relationship is motivated by international comity and has firm grounding in international and domestic public policyin support ofinternational uniformity to facilitate international commerce. Canadian maritime law has a unique heritage underscored by commercial necessity The consequence is a relationship between …
Bio-Cultural Knowledge And The Challenges Of Intellectual Property Rights Regimes For African Development, Ikechi Mgbeoji
Bio-Cultural Knowledge And The Challenges Of Intellectual Property Rights Regimes For African Development, Ikechi Mgbeoji
Dalhousie Law Journal
African states have, since the colonial encounter, been part of the international regimes on intellectual property rights. Formal accession to various treaties and conventions on intellectual property rights instruments should not be mistaken for actual internalization of the policies, structures and norms required for reaping the promised benefits of participation in such regimes. There is ample evidence showing that most African states do not have the requisite structures for fruitful engagement with international intellectual property rights regimes. Until this anomaly is rectified, African states' engagement with international intellectual property regimes will remain structurally flawed and inimical to the human development …
From Idea To Practice: Sustainable Development Efforts In Manitoba, A John Sinclair, Lisa Quinn
From Idea To Practice: Sustainable Development Efforts In Manitoba, A John Sinclair, Lisa Quinn
Dalhousie Law Journal
With a renewed global interest in achieving a more sustainable society, the authors reflect on the history of institutionalizing sustainable development in their province, Manitoba, and consider its future. This paper outlines that province's approaches to developing and advancing sustainable development and discusses the success of these approaches in shaping, guiding, and furthering sustainable development in the province. This is achieved through examination of legislation and review of sustainable development documents as well as interviews with various participants in the process including members of the Manitoba Round Table for Environment and Economy and members of the more recent Manitoba Round …
Are Climate Change Policies Fair To Vulnerable Communities? The Impact Of British Columbia's Carbon Tax And Australia's Carbon Pricing Policy On Indigenous Communities, Karen Bubna-Litic, Nathalie J. Chalifour
Are Climate Change Policies Fair To Vulnerable Communities? The Impact Of British Columbia's Carbon Tax And Australia's Carbon Pricing Policy On Indigenous Communities, Karen Bubna-Litic, Nathalie J. Chalifour
Dalhousie Law Journal
This paper compares carbon pricing policies in British Columbia and Australia in order to identify differences between carbon taxes and emissions trading schemes (ETS) from a fairness perspective. We examine how taxes and trading systems impact indigenous communities in both jurisdictions. While the regressivity of carbon pricing is a critical part of any fairness assessment, we argue that socioeconomic and cultural factors must also be taken into consideration. We discuss the importance of accompanying carbon pricing with policies that mitigate not only distributional impacts, but also additional impacts. These may be funded by the revenue generated by the policy or …
Collective Bargaining In The Shadow Of The Charter Cathedral: Union Strategies In A Post B.C. Health World, Michael Macneil
Collective Bargaining In The Shadow Of The Charter Cathedral: Union Strategies In A Post B.C. Health World, Michael Macneil
Dalhousie Law Journal
For the first twenty-five years after the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was enacted, it appeared that it would have little impact on Canadian labour laws. The Supreme Court of Canada took the view that the guarantee of freedom of association in the Charter did not include a right to strike and did notprovide protection for collective bargaining. Common law rules regulating picketing did not come within the scope of the Charter's rules on freedom of expression. Academic commentators were divided on whether this was a good or a bad thing, some espousing the hope that the Charter could …
Gimme Shelter, Robert Leckey
Gimme Shelter, Robert Leckey
Dalhousie Law Journal
Highlighting the family home's significance as shelter this paper challenges the prevailing view of the demands of the equality guarantee in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms regarding unmarried cohabitants. In Nova Scotia (Attorney General) v. Walsh, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected the claim that it was discriminatory to restrict rules dividing matrimonial property to married couples. By contrast, on many views it is discriminatory to exclude cohabitants from a support obligation. Scholars and judges assume that Walsh upholds all statutory rules regarding married spouses and their property, including measures protecting the family home as shelter But Walsh …
Non-Majority Union Representation Conforms To Ilo Freedom Of Association Principles And (Potentially) Promotes Inter-Union Collaboration: New Zealand Lessons For Canada, Mark Harcourt, Helen Lam
Non-Majority Union Representation Conforms To Ilo Freedom Of Association Principles And (Potentially) Promotes Inter-Union Collaboration: New Zealand Lessons For Canada, Mark Harcourt, Helen Lam
Dalhousie Law Journal
North American union certification violates workers' freedom of association, a fundamental human right well established by the International Labour Organization (ILO); by denying workers the right to be represented when a majority of their co-workers does not favour a union. In Canada, the Supreme Court has drawn on ILO standards to recognize a constitutional right to bargain collectively and organize as part of freedom of association under section 2(d) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, such recognition of the ILO principles has, as yet, to translate into legislation that would provide non-exclusive, non-majority union representation, at least in …
Mediation In Environmental Assessments In Canada: Unfulfilled Promise?, Meinhard Doelle, A John Sinclair
Mediation In Environmental Assessments In Canada: Unfulfilled Promise?, Meinhard Doelle, A John Sinclair
Dalhousie Law Journal
The federal environmental assessment (EA) process and most. provincial EA processes in Canada either specifically provide for mediation as an option or implicitly allow for it. Inspite of this, the actual use of mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has been almost non-existent in Canadian EA. There is an emerging view, however that mediation could be applied usefully at points of the process when there is conflict among the parties. Such adjustments in process would signal the need for approval agencies -andproponents to give serious consideration to more collaborative techniques of participation. The objective of this article …
Section 2(B) Advertising Rights On Government Property: Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority, Anew Can Of Worms And The Liberty Two Step?, Elaine Craig
Dalhousie Law Journal
The Supreme Court's recent decision inVancouver Transportation is problematic for two reasons. First, the majority adopts an analytical framework for determining whether a claim triggers the positive rights Dunmore/Baier analysis, which means that policies restricting expressive rights based on groups rather than content could be less likely to fall within the scope of section 2(b). A better approach would be to characterize section 2(b) cases based on the nature of the claim rather than the nature of the restriction and to apply the positive rights Dunmorel Baier criteria only where the claim is for an audience with the government or …
Fallow Fields Initiatives And Canada's East Coast Offshore: Policy And Legal Considerations, Raymond E. Quesnel
Fallow Fields Initiatives And Canada's East Coast Offshore: Policy And Legal Considerations, Raymond E. Quesnel
Dalhousie Law Journal
The author examines various approaches adopted by government to balance the state's interest in promoting the timely and efficient exploration and development of oil and gas resources under state jurisdiction and industry's need for legal regimes providingsecurityoftenure and other conditions necessary for commercial success. In particular, the paper considers fallow field initiatives adopted by the United Kingdom in respect of the North Sea and their possible application to government's management of oil and gas resources in the Canadian east coast offshore areas, addressing applicable policy considerations, the legislative history of the statutory frameworks in place, and relatedjurisprudence.
Utility And Rights In Common Law Reasoning: Rebalancing Private Law Through Constitutionalization, Hugh Collins
Utility And Rights In Common Law Reasoning: Rebalancing Private Law Through Constitutionalization, Hugh Collins
Dalhousie Law Journal
In the evolution of private law, legal reasoning has always confronted the fundamental problem of reconciling private interests with collective goods. Philosophers analyse this problem ofjustice in terms ofprotecting individual rights whilst at the same time maximizing utility or general welfare. The private law of tort, contract, and property rights that emerged in the nineteenth century provided a fortress of protections for individual rights, but the consequences for collective welfare were quickly found wanting. These consequences were addressed by the welfare state, regulation, and the separation of new spheres ofprivate law such as consumer law and labour lawfrom mainstream doctrine, …
The Challenges Of Institutionalizing Comprehensive Restorative Justice: Theory And Practice In Nova Scotia, Bruce P. Archibald, Jennifer J. Llewellyn
The Challenges Of Institutionalizing Comprehensive Restorative Justice: Theory And Practice In Nova Scotia, Bruce P. Archibald, Jennifer J. Llewellyn
Dalhousie Law Journal
The Nova Scotia Restorative Justice Program ("NSRJ") is one of the oldest and by all accounts the most comprehensive in Canada. The program centres on youth justice, and operates through referrals by police, prosecutors, judges and correctional officials to community organizations which facilitate restorative conferences and other restoratively oriented processes. More than five years of NSRJ experience with thousands of cases has led to a considerable rethinking of restorative justice theory andpractice in relation to governing policies, standards for program implementation and responses to controversial issues. The purpose of this paper is to explore the significance of the Nova Scotia …
Accountants, Privilege, And The Problem Of Working Papers, Paul Paton
Accountants, Privilege, And The Problem Of Working Papers, Paul Paton
Dalhousie Law Journal
Full and frank disclosure between corporate issuers and their auditors and accounting advisors is critical for maintaining access to the information required for audits and public confidence in the capital markets. While tax authorities in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom have the power to make broad requests for working papers, in all four jurisdictions, legislation or administrative practice reflects the determination that the best approach for balancing tax and capital markets requirements is for the revenue authorities to seek working papers only in exceptional circumstances. Additionally, limited forms of privilege for accountants have been recognized …
Spaceship Sheriffs And Cosmonaut Cops, Lee Seshagiri
Spaceship Sheriffs And Cosmonaut Cops, Lee Seshagiri
Dalhousie Law Journal
This paper examines some of the current legal regimes applicable to criminal law in outer space and offers insights into options for future legal developments in the cosmos. It begins by setting out the context for law enforcement in outer space, emphasizing the commercial nature of future space exploration and the need for laws and law enforcement in that environment. Next, various methods for assigning legal jurisdiction in space are examined, and the underlying justifications for the exercise of such jurisdiction are considered. The paper goes on to explore preventative approaches to space crime, highlighting the usefulness of such approaches …
Canadian Graduate Legal Education: Past, Present And Future, Sanjeev S. Anand
Canadian Graduate Legal Education: Past, Present And Future, Sanjeev S. Anand
Dalhousie Law Journal
Canadian graduate legal education has seldom been the subject of scholarly inquiry This article seeks to fill the vacuum by describing and evaluating various features associated with master s and doctoral programs offered by the nation s /ao schools. A number of criteria are used in this analysis, some of which have been garnered from the broader literature on higher education The article concludes with a series of specific programmatic and policy reform proposals aimed at strengthening the state of graduate legal education in this country
Fisheries And Oceans Governance In Australia And Canada: From Sectoral Management To Integration?, Marcus Haward, Rod Dobell, Anthony Charles, Elizabeth Foster
Fisheries And Oceans Governance In Australia And Canada: From Sectoral Management To Integration?, Marcus Haward, Rod Dobell, Anthony Charles, Elizabeth Foster
Dalhousie Law Journal
Australia and Canada have significant oceans domains, and concomitant responsibility for large maritime zones. Fisheries in both countries are important activities with capture fishing, aquaculture and associated processing being vital rural industries Australia and Canada both face major challenges affecting fisheries management. These challenges include managing multiple and at times conflicting uses and claims on ocean and marine resources, while also recognizing the complexity and profound uncertainty associated with those resources. In that context, and having regard to the different histories of Australia and Canada, this paper outlines the different strategies and emphases adopted recently by the two countries. These …