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Full-Text Articles in Law
Policy Preference Change And Appointments To The Supreme Court Of Canada, Benjamin Alarie, Andrew Green
Policy Preference Change And Appointments To The Supreme Court Of Canada, Benjamin Alarie, Andrew Green
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
Canadian prime ministers appoint judges to the Supreme Court of Canada at their own discretion. This practice has been criticized as providing prime ministers with the ability to appoint judges whose policy preferences are regarded as politically congenial. We examine the Court's judgments in the post-Charter era to discern the apparent policy preferences of the judges. Our results suggest that the policy preferences of judges are not strongly associated with the political party of the prime minister and that their policy preferences shift over time in seemingly unpredictable ways. We discuss the implications of this analysis for possible reforms of …
American Citations And The Mclachlin Court: An Empirical Study, Peter Mccormick
American Citations And The Mclachlin Court: An Empirical Study, Peter Mccormick
Osgoode Hall Law Journal
This article examines the use of American jurisprudence by the judges of the McLachlin Court, using an earlier study of such citations as a reference point. In addition to tracking overall use of American citations over time, it looks at these trends: which Canadian judges use American cases and for which types of cases; and which American cases, courts, and judges are being cited. Brief descriptions of the Supreme Court cases with the largest use of American citations precede a categorization of the results. The article confirms previous academic findings that the use of American citations have been modest, with …
Fitness For Purpose: Mandatory Continuing Legal Ethics Education For Lawyers, Jocelyn Downie, Richard Devlin
Fitness For Purpose: Mandatory Continuing Legal Ethics Education For Lawyers, Jocelyn Downie, Richard Devlin
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
The authors argue that if we want lawyers to be fit for the purpose of practicing law, and law societies to be fit for the purpose of regulating in the public interest, then it is incumbent upon the Canadian legal profession to adopt programmes of compulsory legal ethics education (CLEE). In support of this argument the authors: provide several reasons why Canadians might be concerned about the ethical fitness of lawyers and law societies; analyse several arguments both in supporting and resisting CLEE; suggest several strategies for overcoming the ethical indolence of the legal profession; and draw inspiration from recent …