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Full-Text Articles in Law
Redressing The Imbalances: Rethinking The Judicial Role After R. V. R.D.S., Richard Devlin Frsc, Dianne Pothier
Redressing The Imbalances: Rethinking The Judicial Role After R. V. R.D.S., Richard Devlin Frsc, Dianne Pothier
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. R.D.S. dealt with whether a trial judge's comments, about the interactions between police officers and "non-white groups", gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias in the circumstances. They strongly criticize the contrary ruling of the dissent as inappropriately drawing a false dichotomy between decisions based on evidence and decisions based on evidence and decision based on generalizations, and as improperly ignoring social context with an unwarranted confidence in the ideology of colour blindness. While more supportive of the majority's analysis, the authors also find cause for concern, with …
Reducing The Democratic Deficit: Representation, Diversity, And The Canadian Judiciary, Or Towards A "Triple P" Judiciary, Richard Devlin Frsc, A. Wayne Mackay, Natasha Kim
Reducing The Democratic Deficit: Representation, Diversity, And The Canadian Judiciary, Or Towards A "Triple P" Judiciary, Richard Devlin Frsc, A. Wayne Mackay, Natasha Kim
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
The authors review the current structures for judicial appointments in Canada and provide statistical information about the results of these mechanisms in respect to diversity of representation on the courts. They are also critical of the fairness and openness of judicial appointments processes. After examining several variants of the dominant liberal view of law and of judges, the authors proffer and articulate a neo-realist theory of law and what they term a "bungee cord theory of judging." According to the former, law is inevitably a form of politics; according to the latter, judges are unavoidably political actors. In consequence, the …