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Full-Text Articles in Law

The Aboriginal Constitution, Brian Slattery Jan 2014

The Aboriginal Constitution, Brian Slattery

Brian Slattery

In a remarkable series of cases over the past decade, from Haida Nation to Manitoba Métis Federation, the Supreme Court of Canada has thrown a strong light on three basic elements of Aboriginal law: the honour of the Crown, the Royal Proclamation of 1763, and Aboriginal Treaties. This paper argues that these form the framework of the Aboriginal Constitution, which parallels the Federal Pact between the Provinces in the Constitution Act, 1867. Indeed, the Aboriginal Constitution provides the Constitution of Canada with its most ancient and enduring roots.


Paper Empires: The Legal Dimensions Of French And English Ventures In North America, Brian Slattery Jan 2005

Paper Empires: The Legal Dimensions Of French And English Ventures In North America, Brian Slattery

Brian Slattery

No abstract provided.


The Independence Of Canada, Brian Slattery Dec 1982

The Independence Of Canada, Brian Slattery

Brian Slattery

Canada is in independent state and has been for many years. Its sovereign status has long been acknowledged by the international community and the courts. So the constitutional manoeuvres that culminated in the enactment of the Constitution Act, 1982, by the British Parliament, must strike any observer as a somewhat puzzling series of events. How can we explain the fact that a sovereign state should consider itself bound to employ the legislature of another sovereign state to secure for itself a new constitution? Underlying this question are a number of fundamental issues going to the foundations of the Canadian legal …


The Land Rights Of Indigenous Canadian Peoples, Brian Slattery Jan 1979

The Land Rights Of Indigenous Canadian Peoples, Brian Slattery

Brian Slattery

The problem examined in this work is whether the land rights originally held by Canada's Indigenous peoples survived the process whereby the British Crown acquired sovereignty over their territories, and, if so, in what form. The question, although historical in nature, has important implications for current disputes involving Aboriginal land claims in Canada. It is considered here largely as a matter of first impression. The author has examined the historical evidence with a fresh eye, in the light of contemporaneous legal authorities. Due consideration is given to modern case-law, but the primary focus is upon the historical process proper.


French Claims In North America, 1500-59, Brian Slattery Dec 1977

French Claims In North America, 1500-59, Brian Slattery

Brian Slattery

Historians usually trace the origins of Canada to the initial explorations of England and France, with emphasis upon the French voyages of the early sixteenth century involving Verrazzano, Cartier, and Roberval. France, it is said, officially asserted territorial rights in North America at this era, based upon the discoveries and acts of taking possession of its emissaries, and that these claims were sustained, if in a somewhat desultory manner, until the successful colonizing efforts of the following century. The French crown is thought to have treated North America as unowned land open to appropriation, territorium nullius, rejecting the claims of …