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Full-Text Articles in Legal History
Canada’S First Malpractice Crisis: Medical Negligence In The Late Nineteenth Century, R. Blake Brown
Canada’S First Malpractice Crisis: Medical Negligence In The Late Nineteenth Century, R. Blake Brown
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
This article describes and explains the first Canadian medical malpractice crisis. While malpractice had emerged as a prominent legal issue in the United States by the mid nineteenth century, Canadian doctors first began to express concerns with a growth in malpractice litigation in the late nineteenth century. Physicians claimed that lawsuits damaged reputations and forced them to spend lavishly on defending themselves. Doctors blamed lawyers for drumming up spurious lawsuits and argued that ignorant or malicious jurors tended to side with plaintiffs. Evidence, however, points to additional factors that contributed to litigation. Medical professionals in rural areas sometimes avoided lengthy …
Sex, Race, And Motel Guests: Another Look At King V Barclay, Sarah E. Hamill
Sex, Race, And Motel Guests: Another Look At King V Barclay, Sarah E. Hamill
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
The 1961 case of King v Barclay is something of a footnote in the history of discrimination against Black Canadians. If it is cited at all, it is usually cited alongside the more famous racism cases, such as Christie v York, as proof of the widespread nature of racism in Canada. In this paper, I re-read the trial decision and examine the original case file to show that the facts of King and the racism in the case are more complex than usually realized. King emerged out of a series of errors from both King and Barclay’s Motel which resulted …
Promises Of Law: The Unlawful Dispossession Of Japanese Canadians, Eric M. Adams, Jordan Stanger-Ross
Promises Of Law: The Unlawful Dispossession Of Japanese Canadians, Eric M. Adams, Jordan Stanger-Ross
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
This article is about the origins, betrayal, and litigation of a promise of law. In 1942, while it ordered the internment of over twenty-one thousand Canadians of Japanese descent, the Canadian government enacted orders in council authorizing the Custodian of Enemy Property to seize all real and personal property owned by Japanese Canadians living within coastal British Columbia. Demands from the Japanese-Canadian community and concern from within the corridors of government resulted in amendments to those orders stipulating that the Custodian held that property as a “protective” trust and would return it to Japanese Canadians at the conclusion of the …
When Wage Theft Was A Crime In Canada, 1935-1955: The Challenge Of Using The Master’S Tools Against The Master, Eric Tucker
When Wage Theft Was A Crime In Canada, 1935-1955: The Challenge Of Using The Master’S Tools Against The Master, Eric Tucker
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
In recent years the term “wage theft” has been widely used to describe the phenomenon of employers not paying their workers the wages they are owed. While the term has great normative weight, it is rarely accompanied by calls for employers literally to be prosecuted under the criminal law. However, it is a little known fact that in 1935, Canada enacted a criminal wage theft law, which remained on the books until 1955. This article provides an historical account of the wage theft law, including the role of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads, the legislative debates and amendments that …
The Evolution Of Coordinate Precedential Authority In Canada: Interprovincial Citations Of Judicial Authority, 1922-92, Peter Mccormick
The Evolution Of Coordinate Precedential Authority In Canada: Interprovincial Citations Of Judicial Authority, 1922-92, Peter Mccormick
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
It comes as no surprise that the provincial courts of appeal frequently cite as authority the decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada or the prior decisions of the court of appeal itself. However, the citation practices of these courts also show (emerging before, and persisting after, 1970) a striking reliance on their counterparts in other provinces. Both the simple existence of this interprovincial conversation and the details of its provenance-such as the dominance of Ontario, the persistent isolation of Quebec, the recent emergence of British Columbia-constitute an important and distinctive element of judicial decision making in Canada.
"Artificial Conscience": Professional Elites And Professional Discipline From 1920 To 1950, James A. Smith
"Artificial Conscience": Professional Elites And Professional Discipline From 1920 To 1950, James A. Smith
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
Recent historical studies of the British and American Bars have identified their professional elites' willingness to define and enforce a concept of legal ethics which restricted less fortunate members' ability to practice and less fortunate individuals' ability to obtain legal assistance. This essay applies the thesis to the Canadian Bar's and especially the Law Society of Upper Canada's use of their increasing control over professional discipline from 1920 to 1950. Identifying similar trends in the Canadian profession's evolution, while emphasizing effects rather than intentions, it makes similar conclusions about the Canadian professional elite's use of such powers during this period.