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Full-Text Articles in Law

The Constitutionalization Of Quebec Libel Law, 1848-2004, Joseph Kary Apr 2004

The Constitutionalization Of Quebec Libel Law, 1848-2004, Joseph Kary

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

In 1848, a Quebec judge changed the law of defamation to accord with the newly-applicable constitutional right to freedom of speech. His decision and those that followed seem strange now that the Supreme Court of Canada has held that Charter rights do not apply to private law. These decisions show that the constitutionalization of libel law was not an American innovation, but rather one that emerged in Canada over a century earlier. This article analyzes the Quebec cases in detail, and suggests that they were grounded in liberal ideas about the British Constitution that were prevalent in Lower Canada at …


Governance And Anarchy In The S.2(B) Jurisprudence: A Comment On Vancouver Sun And Harper V. Canada, Jamie Cameron Jan 2004

Governance And Anarchy In The S.2(B) Jurisprudence: A Comment On Vancouver Sun And Harper V. Canada, Jamie Cameron

Articles & Book Chapters

The article identifies and explains a double standard in the Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence. The contrast is between the open court jurisprudence, which is a model of good constitutional governance – or principled decision making – and the Court’s s.2(b) methodology, which is “anarchistic” or capricious and undisciplined, in the sense of this article. Two landmark cases decided in 2004 illustrate the double standard: the first is Re Vancouver Sun, [2004] 2 S.C.R. 332, which dealt with the open court principle under Parliament’s anti-terrorism provision for investigative hearings, it represents a high water mark for open court and s.2(b) …