Law Commons^™

Diverse Perspectives On Interdisciplinarity From Members Of The College Of The Royal Society Of Canada, Steven J. Cooke, Vivian M. Nguyen, Dimitry Anastakis, Shannon D. Scott, Merritt R. Turetskyd, Alidad Amirfazli, Alison Hearn, Cynthia E. Milton, Laura Loewen, Eric E. Smith, D. Ryan Norrisd, Kim L. Lavoie, Alice Aiken, Daniel Ansari, Alissa N. Antle, Molly Babel, Jane Bailey, Daniel M. Bernstein, Rachel Birnbaum, Carrie Bourassa, Antonio Calcagno, Aurélie Campana, Bing Chen, Karen Collins, Catherine E. Connell, Myriam Denov, Benoît Dupont, Eric George, Irene Gregory-Eaves, Steven High, Josephine M. Hill, Philip L. Jackson

Law Publications

Various multiple-disciplinary terms and concepts (although most commonly "interdisciplinarity," which is used herein) are used to frame education, scholarship, research, and interactions within and outside academia. In principle, the premise of interdisciplinarity may appear to have many strengths; yet, the extent to which interdisciplinarity is embraced by the current generation of academics, the benefits and risks for doing so, and the barriers and facilitators to achieving interdisciplinarity, represent inherent challenges. Much has been written on the topic of interdisciplinarity, but to our knowledge there have been few attempts to consider and present diverse perspectives from scholars, artists, and scientists in …

Causation And Incentives In Updating Courts: Comment, Alan Miller

Law Publications

This paper examines the negligence standard in the presence of intervening causal factors. The court observes the evidence and assigns a probability to the intervening factor in the course of evaluating the injurer's negligence. The court must, under the law, put a substantial weight on the facts in estimating the intervention probability. We allow the court to also put some weight on its own prior. Under such an adaptive approach to assessing negligence, incentives for care are affected by the court's inference process in addition to the usual factors. Courts can generate efficient incentives for care through the choice of …

International Law Influences, Patricia Galvao-Ferreira

Law Publications

This chapter examines the various ways in which IEL has shaped the design and application of Canadian domestic environmental law. It first provides an overview of the importance and the evolution of the international law responses to current and emerging environmental challenges before reviewing concrete cases in which Canadian environmental norms and principles can be directly linked to IEL. Finally, it reviews how Canadian courts are engaging with international law principles.

The Full Picture: Preliminary Examinations At The International Criminal Court, Sara Wharton, Rosemary Grey

Law Publications

The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) has described the preliminary examination as one of its “three core activities,” alongside investigating and prosecuting crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute). Honing in on this once-mysterious “core activity,” this article contributes to the recently expanding literature on preliminary examinations at the ICC by providing a much needed comprehensive picture of all preliminary examinations conducted to date. The twentieth anniversary of the court’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, provides a timely opportunity for this review as part of the broader effort to take stock …

Mystery Shopping: Demand-Side Phenomena In Markets For Personal Plight Legal Services, Noel Semple

Law Publications

“Personal plight” is the sector of the legal services industry in which the clients are individuals, and the legal needs arise from disputes. This article proposes that competition among personal plight law firms is suppressed by three demand-side phenomena. First, consumers confront high search costs. Identifying competing law firms willing and able to provide the needed services often requires significant expenditure of temporal and psychological resources. Second, comparable price and quality information about firms is scarce for consumers. Both of these factors impede comparison shopping and reduce competitive pressure on firms. A third competition-suppressing factor is observed in tort legal …

The Trade Facilitation Agreement: Is The Doha Development Round Succeeding?, Maureen Irish

Law Publications

The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) entered into force on February 22, 2017. It has re-oriented thinking on special and differential treatment at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Developing and least-developed countries can make their obligations conditional on the receipt of effective technical assistance that creates the necessary relevant capacity. They can also choose the implementation periods for provisions of the TFA in accordance with their own needs. These innovative approaches may be suitable for adoption in other agreements.

Graffiti, Street Art, Walls, And The Public In Canadian Copyright Law, Pascale Chapdelaine

Law Publications

Graffiti is vilified, and at the same time is increasingly revered and celebrated. This ambivalence is reflected in the general legal landscape that surrounds graffiti and other forms of street art at the criminal, civil and municipal levels. Within this general legal framework, the application of copyright law to graffiti and street art reveals a complex web of interwoven issues about the protection of the graffiti artist’s economic and moral rights and questions of illegality and public policy, and about the rights of the property owner of the “wall” on which the art resides, and the public. This book chapter …

Climate Finance And Transparency In The Paris Agreement - Key Current And Emerging Legal Issues, Patricia Galvao-Ferreira

Law Publications

The success of the Paris Agreement depends in large measure on the legal and operational details of the “enhanced transparency framework” under article 13, including the transparency framework for climate financial support. The transparency framework for financial support will guide how parties are to report the progress toward meeting their commitments to provide financial support for climate action in developing countries and, where support is received, on its use. Developed countries’ pledge to provide financial support to developing countries was a cornerstone of the compromise that enabled the virtually consensual global adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015. This financial …

Pintea V Johns: 18 Months Later, Julie Macfarlane, Kaila Scarrow

Law Publications

It has been 18 months since the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Pintea v Johns.1 NSRLP’s SRL Case Law Database project is tracking the emerging jurisprudence on issues relating to the treatment and management of self-­‐‑ represented litigants by the courts, and we regard the impact of Pintea since that decision came down to be an important topic to address in our ongoing series of detailed reports. Specifically, we wanted to examine how the courts have been applying this landmark decision for self-­‐‑represented litigants since April 2017. In Pintea v Johns, the Supreme Court of Canada endorses the Principles …

Clinical And Experiential Learning In Canadian Law Schools: Current Perspectives, Gemma Smyth, Samantha Hale, Neil Gold

Law Publications

What are some of the challenges and possibilities animating modern Canadian clinical and experiential learning in law? This question was the starting point for our research, which examined two sets of data. In the first part of this project, we analyzed available information on existing clinical and experiential learning programs in Canadian law schools. This data revealed a growing quantity and variety of programs across the country. We then held qualitative interviews with deans, professors, and clinicians across Canada regarding their views of clinical and experiential learning. While the interviews suggested that many of the same financial and curricular challenges …

Substantial & Punitive Costs Awards Against Self-Represented Litigants, Julie Macfarlane, Ashley Haines

Law Publications

This report focuses on decisions that award costs against SRLs: that is, when they are on the losing side. We are interested in whether there is any difference in the way a losing party is treated, and how costs against them are assessed when they are self-representing, as opposed to when they are represented by a lawyer. At NSRLP our attention was first drawn to this issue as a result of our intervention in Pintea v Johns,3 where an SRL who failed to attend two case management conferences was held in contempt and ordered to pay $83,000 in costs (this …

Lifting The Curtain: Opening A Preliminary Examination At The International Criminal Court, Rosemary Grey, Sara Wharton

Law Publications

In the emerging literature on preliminary examinations, most scholars have focussed on issues that arise after a preliminary examination has been opened. Yet, there has been little analysis of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor’s decision to open a preliminary examination in the first place. Taking this gap in the literature as our starting point, and flagging an emerging debate in the ICC as to whether the ICC Statute envisages a ‘pre-preliminary examination’ stage at all, this article examines the law and policy which governs the opening of an ICC preliminary examination and makes the case for further critical discussion …

Differentiation In International Environmental Law: Has Pragmatism Displaced Considerations Of Justice?, Patricia Galvao-Ferreira

Law Publications

The Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) scholarly movement seeks to assess and to advance the ‘promise of international law to transform itself into a system based, not on power, but justice’, by considering how global norms impair or advance the interests of states in the Global South. This chapter seeks to contribute to the TWAIL scholarly project by examining whether international environmental law (IEL)’s norms and mechanisms have been a source of international legal innovation by challenging entrenched global socio-economic and power imbalances, making this field of law more supportive of the interests of the South. This chapter …

Copyright User Rights And Remedies: An Access To Justice Perspective, Pascale Chapdelaine

Law Publications

In contemporary copyright law, there is an ongoing debate around the nature and scope of the rights users should have to copyright works, exacerbated by ongoing technological developments. Within that debate, this article queries the value of looking at the remedies users may have against copyright holders restricting their legitimate uses of works, as a means to further elucidate the nature and scope of user rights. While there is some value in looking at remedies to situate copyright user rights, an access to justice perspective to rights and remedies suggests that such approach may be too limiting with respect to …

Is Access To Court Transcripts In Canada An A2j Issue?, Julie Macfarlane, Kaila Scarrow, Becky Robinet

Law Publications

Access to Justice requires that self-represented litigants (SRLs) be able, if they wish, to obtain a record of a court proceeding they have participated in. This is to ensure they did not miss hearing something important, and are able to comprehensively review what was said in the courtroom. Court hearings habitually use legal jargon that those without legal training may not understand, and as a result, the import of what is said by either the judge or the litigants’ lawyers during the hearing may be missed. Additionally, emotions and stress levels are usually high during a hearing, and sometimes the …

Copyright User Rights And Access To Justice (Introduction), Pascale Chapdelaine

Law Publications

This is an introduction to selected articles published in vol. 35 of The Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice (2018) further to the Symposium: "Copyright User Rights and Access to Justice" hosted by Windsor Law on May 18-19 2017. It gives a brief overview of the concept of copyright user rights and access to justice, as well as of the main themes discussed in the articles and at the Symposium, including access to knowledge and human rights.

When Judges See Srls, Do They See Gender? Observations On Gendered Characterizations In Judgments, Julie Macfarlane, Sandra Shushani

Law Publications

Introducing the Self-Represented Litigants Case Law Database Over 200 Canadian decisions have now been read and analyzed for the Self-Represented Litigants Case Law Database (CLD) by a research team at the National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP). The purpose of the Database is to track the emerging jurisprudence in all levels of courts across Canada, and to present findings that highlight patterns and themes evident within decisions reported by Canadian courts from coast to coast. Self-represented litigants, or SRLs, face a variety of obstacles and challenges throughout trial proceedings. Cases identified and analyzed in the CLD highlight four issues that the …

Costs Awards For Self-Represented Litigants, Julie Macfarlane, Lidia Imbrogno

Law Publications

Over 200 Canadian decisions have now been read, analyzed, and added to the Self-Represented Litigants Case Law Database (CLD) by researchers at the National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP). The purpose of this database is to track the emerging jurisprudence at all levels of courts across Canada, as it relates to self-representation, and to present findings that highlight patterns and themes evident within decisions reported by Canadian courts from coast to coast. Self-represented litigants, or SRLs, face unique obstacles and challenges throughout trial proceedings. Cases included within the CLD focus on four issues that the NSRLP has noticed are raised with …

The Interplay Between Human Rights And Accessibility Laws: Lessons Learned And Considerations For The Planned Federal Accessibility Legislation, Laverne Jacobs

Law Publications

In this study, the author analyzes, comparatively, the administrative governance functions of legislation that provides accessibility standards in six jurisdictions that also offer legal protection from discrimination to people with disabilities: Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Manitoba and Nova Scotia. The following governance functions were examined: a) creating accessibility standards, b) enforcing accessibility standards, c) enforcing decisions,d) encouraging compliance, e) raising public awareness (and promoting systemic culture change) and f) public education. The study was conducted with a view to understanding how human rights laws, principles and values can be used to …

When Climate Adaptation Is Imperative Yet Elusive: Guatemala’S Test For Climate Justice, Patricia Galvao-Ferreira

Law Publications

Guatemala perfectly illustrates the climate justice paradox: the countries that contributed least to climate change, and have lower financial and technological capacity to implement timely climate action, are often among the most vulnerable to climate impacts. Guatemala has barely contributed to greenhouse gas emissions (GhGs) that cause climate change. Yet the country is suffering from the effects of climate change. In 2005, Tropical Storm Stan caused more than 1,400 deaths, and over one half million affected in Guatemala, 70 percent of whom were indigenous peoples, causing U.S. $989 million in economic losses. In 2010, tropical storms Alex, Agatha, Frank, and …

Introducing The Self-Represented Litigant Case Law Database, Julie Macfarlane, Sandra Shushani, Lidia Imbrogno

Law Publications

The Self-Represented Litigant (SRL) Case Law Database Project began in January of 2017 and is the newest work-in-progress of the National Self-Represented Litigants Project. Our goal is to track the developing jurisprudence across Canada in cases that relate to and affect the positions of individuals appearing unrepresented.

Digital Locks, Physical Objects And Immaterial Works, Pascale Chapdelaine

Law Publications

One of the greatest controversies in contemporary copyright law is the introduction of technological protection measures (TPMs) at the international and national level. By creating a separate parallel regime for digital copyright works, TPMs shifted the paradigm by redefining the rules of engagement of how users would increasingly access and experience digital copyright works.

In this chapter of my book Copyright User Rights, Contracts, and the Erosion of Property (Oxford University Press, 2017) I look at the implementation of TPMs as a regulatory tool from a multi-jurisdictional perspective. Initially mainly intended to protect copyright holders’ works made accessible online or …

Equitable Allocation Of Climate Adaptation Finance - Considering Income Levels Alongside Vulnerability, Patricia Galvao-Ferreira

Law Publications

The 2015 Paris Agreement elevates the goal of climate adaptation to the same level of importance as the goal of climate mitigation, and emphasizes the need to mobilize finance for climate adaptation in developing countries. As of February 2017, however, the financial gap for climate adaptation remained monumental. With the administration of US President Donald Trump threatening to interrupt American financial flows to the climate regime, developing countries are expressing growing concern about the ability of developed country parties to mobilize enough finance to meet the sizeable costs of their climate adaptation needs. In this context, the question of how …

A Copyright Board For Canada At 150, Margaret Ann Wilkinson

Law Publications

Recognition and protection of the role of copyright in Canadian society goes back as far as Confederation. But just as the need to pursue the appropriate balances among competing values is a constant part of our nation-building, so too is the need to occasionally re-examine and rebalance interests related to copyright.

Great Expectations: The Treatment Of Expectations In Wto And International Investment Law, Chios Carmody, Chios Carmody

Law Publications

A continuing issue in many areas of law is the treatment of “reasonable” or “legitimate” expectations. This contribution posits that a doctrine of expectations is vital to both the law’s stability and flexibility, functioning as a kind of ‘shock absorber’ that accommodates divergent pressures within a legal system. Expectations may arise subjectively, but what the law protects in most instances is determined objectively. This contribution goes on to examine the treatment of expectations in WTO and international investment law. Their treatment in WTO law has been to read them out as a matter of pleading in WTO dispute settlement, apart …

Creating An Anti-Corruption Norm In Africa: Critical Reflections On Legal Instrumentalization For Development, Paul D. Ocheje

Law Publications

Abstract

This article reflects critically on the instrumental value of law in the anti-corruption struggle in Africa. Three questions are central to this reflection: (a) Is the instrumental use of law to achieve a developmental purpose, such as anti-corruption, defensible in theory and practice? (b) Is law necessary to, and/or adequate for, the creation of an anti-corruption norm? (c) Why do the developing countries perform so poorly in the fight against corruption in comparison with their wealthier, industrialized counterparts? While the article defends the instrumentalization of law in this regard, it argues that the African normative context of corruption throws …

Evaluating Systemic Advocacy: A Primer & Tools For Evaluating Systemic Advocacy In Ontario's Legal Clinics, Gemma Smyth

Law Publications

No abstract provided.

Obligations Versus Rights: Substantive Difference Between Wto And International Investment Law, Chios Carmody

Law Publications

WTO law remains relatively uncontentious whereas international investment law elicits much more debate. This article posits that the differences in reception are attributable to deeper substantive differences about what is protected under each regime. In WTO law what is protected is the sum total of all commitments and concessions under the WTO Agreement, something that can be thought of as a “public” good. When a country injures that good, the remedy is for the country to cease the injury, a requirement that naturally places emphasis on obligation. In international investment law, by contrast, what is protected is individualized to a …

Part Three Child And Family Services Act Table Of Concordance With Bill C-89, Lois Boateng

Law Publications

Bill 89, Supporting Children, Youth and Families Act, 2017, (41^st Parl, 2^nd Sess) Ontario (2017)

Table of Concordance between Part III (Child Protection) of the Child and Family Services Act and Part V (Child Protection) of Bill C-89, An Act to enact the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2016, to amend and repeal the Child and Family Services Act and to make related amendments to other Acts.

Contents

Interpretation- Definitions. 3

Child in Need of Protection. 4

Best Interests of Child. 5

Where child an Indian or native person. 6

Place of Safety. 6

Temporary …

Abductive Reasoning In Wto Law, Chios Carmody

Law Publications

Law is about many things, but at base it is about rights and obligations. That jural correlation is established and sustained by means of reasoning. We hold that an actor has a right or obligation by virtue of reasoning that classically occurs in one of two forms. An obligation creates a right by means of inductive logic that rests on the conviction of similar instances in the past and the need for proof. It can also create an obligation by means of deductive logic, that is, the process of reasoning from one or more statements (premises) that are used to …