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Full-Text Articles in Legal History
Fifty Years Of Canadian Legal History, Jim Phillips, Philip Girard
Fifty Years Of Canadian Legal History, Jim Phillips, Philip Girard
Dalhousie Law Journal
Fifty years ago Canadian legal history was very much in its infancy. What little had been published was in equal measure antiquarian, descriptive, and hagiographic. The field has undergone a profound transformation in the last half-century. We now know a great deal more about all aspects of our legal past, about our institutions, our legal personnel, and the substantive law. The field has also become much more sophisticated, concerned not only with internal legal developments but increasingly with the relationships between law and other aspects of Canadian history. Social history, labour history, women’s history, economic, intellectual, cultural and political history, …
The Impeachment Of The Judges Of The Nova Scotia Supreme Court, 1787-1793: Colonial Judges, Loyalist Lawyers, And The Colonial Assembly, Jim Phillips
Dalhousie Law Journal
In 1790 the Nova Scotia House of Assembly passed seven "articles of impeachment" against two ofthe colony's Supreme Courtjudges, the firstattempt bya British North American assembly to remove superior courtjudges. Although the impeachment failed when the British government rejected the charges, it is noteworthy nonetheless. The product of a dispute between newly arrived loyalist lawyers and a local elite of "old inhabitants, " it was at one and the same time a political struggle between the Assembly and the executive branch, and one that involved concerns about judicial competence. The impeachment crisis also demonstrates the close links between the judiciary …
Brightening The Covenant Chain: Aboriginal Treaty Meanings In Law And History After Marshall, Mark D. Walters
Brightening The Covenant Chain: Aboriginal Treaty Meanings In Law And History After Marshall, Mark D. Walters
Dalhousie Law Journal
The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Marshall raises some difficult questions about the interpretation of Crown-Aboriginal treaties, especially treaties dating from the eighteenth century. The Court acknowledged that the treaty context is important to establishing the meaning of treaty texts, and Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal perspectives must be considered. As a result, judges must have regard to historical analyses of Crown-Aboriginal relations when interpreting these old treaties. In this article, the author explores some of the complex theoretical problems that such legal-historical analyses create, focusing in particular upon the possibility that lawyers and judges may reach …
Lord Mansfield And Negotiable Instruments, Jane D. Samson
Lord Mansfield And Negotiable Instruments, Jane D. Samson
Dalhousie Law Journal
In any system of judge-made law the longevity, education and character of a judge have enhanced significance. The idea of a judge personifies Justice, blinded and impartial, but the law he creates will inevitably be infused with his personality. Where an individual develops an entire system of law, his contribution to legal history can be overwhelming. Lord Mansfield remains a case in point.