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Full-Text Articles in Law

Removing A "Section 96" Judge: An Historical Case Study, Barry Cahill Apr 2000

Removing A "Section 96" Judge: An Historical Case Study, Barry Cahill

Dalhousie Law Journal

The creation of the Canadian Judicial Council in 1971 and the gradual disappearance of county and district court judges into the superior court judiciary filled a lacuna in the Constitution Act, 1867. The tenure of county court judges was less secure than that of superior court judges, which was constitutionally entrenched and protected. The Judges Act, passed originally to provide for the removal of county court judges, articulated a mechanism which was extended to superior court judges at about the same time as county and district courts were beginning to disappear from the Canadian judicial scene. The lack of such …


Redressing The Imbalances: Rethinking The Judicial Role After R. V. R.D.S., Richard Devlin Frsc, Dianne Pothier Jan 2000

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 Jan 2000

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 …