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Full-Text Articles in Law

Illuminating False Light: Assessing The Case For The False Light Tort In Canada, Fraser Duncan Dec 2020

Illuminating False Light: Assessing The Case For The False Light Tort In Canada, Fraser Duncan

Dalhousie Law Journal

The false light tort has been the most contentious of the four privacy torts recognized in many US states, receiving criticism for its uncertain connection to privacy interests, its overlap with defamation and its chilling effect on free speech. While the tort has not previously received much judicial or scholarly attention in Canada, the recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Yenovkian v Gulian recognized false light as a cause of action in the province. This article cautions other Canadian common law courts against following suit through an analysis of the nature, history, and criticisms of the …


Is It Time To Adopt A No-Fault Scheme To Compensate Injured Patients?, Elaine Gibson Jan 2016

Is It Time To Adopt A No-Fault Scheme To Compensate Injured Patients?, Elaine Gibson

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The tort system is roundly indicted for its inadequacies in providing compensation in response to injury. More egregious is its response to injuries incurred due to negligence in the provision of healthcare services specifically. Despite numerous calls for reform, tort-based compensation has persisted as the norm to date. However, recent developments regarding physician malpractice lead to consideration of the possibility of a move to “no-fault” compensation for healthcare-related injuries. In this paper, I explore these developments, examine programs in various foreign jurisdictions which have adopted no-fault compensation for medical injury, and discuss the wisdom and feasibility of adopting an administratively-based …


Is It Time To Adopt A No-Fault Scheme To Compensate Injured Patients?, Elaine Gibson Jan 2016

Is It Time To Adopt A No-Fault Scheme To Compensate Injured Patients?, Elaine Gibson

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The tort system is roundly indicted for its inadequacies in providing compensation in response to injury. More egregious is its response to injuries incurred due to negligence in the provision of healthcare services specifically. Despite numerous calls for reform, tort-based compensation has persisted as the norm to date. However, recent developments regarding physician malpractice lead to consideration of the possibility of a move to “no-fault” compensation for healthcare-related injuries. In this paper, I explore these developments, examine programs in various foreign jurisdictions which have adopted no-fault compensation for medical injury, and discuss the wisdom and feasibility of adopting an administratively-based …


Clarifying Causation In Tort, Erik S. Knutsen Apr 2010

Clarifying Causation In Tort, Erik S. Knutsen

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article argues that there is nothing overly confusing about the law ofcausation in negligence. It attempts to define the current state of causation in Canadian negligence law with a simple goal in mind: to have a clearer more productive conversation about the law with the fundamental concepts clearly on the table. The author argues that while the leading decisions on causation are often couched in broad-based, universal terminology to refrain from inhibiting conceptual portability,the cases can be read as a sustained continuum of conversations about causation. A cohesive framework for the law is offered by taking a longitudinal perspective …


The Definition Of "Accident" In Canadian Coverage Cases And The Unspoken "Useful Purpose" Test, Eric J. Adams Oct 2009

The Definition Of "Accident" In Canadian Coverage Cases And The Unspoken "Useful Purpose" Test, Eric J. Adams

Dalhousie Law Journal

Thispaper argues that courts tacitly weigh risks againstrewards when constructing the meaning of the term "accident." It suggests the phrase "courting the risk" takes on two distinct meanings. Firstly, at some point, the risks associated with an activity are said to be so substantial as to suggest an insured expected and, thus, courted any resulting losses.. Secondly, a party is deemed to court the risk of. loss if acting solely for the experience of risk, in and of itself,and not for any other redeeming benefit. The author outlines the evolution of the term "accident" in the case law and contrasts …


Air Travel, Accidents And Injuries: Why The New Montreal Convention Is Already Outdated, Andrew Field Apr 2005

Air Travel, Accidents And Injuries: Why The New Montreal Convention Is Already Outdated, Andrew Field

Dalhousie Law Journal

The 1999 Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air (the "Montreal Convention") came into force in 2003. It is the latest in a series of attempts to replace a number of variations on the 1929 Warsaw Convention with a single agreement which regulates the rights and liabilities of international air carriers, their passengers and shippers. At the time, the Montreal Convention was hailed as providing better protection and compensation for victims of air accidents. However despite its recent adoption, in relation to claims for death and personal injuries the Montreal Convention is still firmly planted …


Canadian Law Teachers In The 1930s: "When The World Was Turned Upside Down", Richard Risk Apr 2004

Canadian Law Teachers In The 1930s: "When The World Was Turned Upside Down", Richard Risk

Dalhousie Law Journal

During the 1930s. scholars in the Canadian common law schools introduced fundamental changes in ways of thinking about law, changes that made one of them. John Willis, say 'the world was turned upside down." These scholars rejected the past, especially the English legal thought of the late nineteenth century Instead, they were influenced by changes in the United States, which began early in the century, and by the emerging regulatory and welfare state. In private law subjects, Caesar Wright was central, using American ideas to challenge the dominant English authority, especially in his writing about torts. In public law subjects, …


Lessons From Away:An Interdisciplinary Collectionof Studies Exploring Whatcanada May Learn From Othercountries' Experiences Withhealth Care Reforms, Colleen M. Flood Oct 1997

Lessons From Away:An Interdisciplinary Collectionof Studies Exploring Whatcanada May Learn From Othercountries' Experiences Withhealth Care Reforms, Colleen M. Flood

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Canadian health care system is considered a shining example of what it is to be Canadian: to aspire to social justice goals and to achieve those goals at a reasonable cost.' Canadians take great pride in that, by any measure, their health care system is superior to the piece-meal, expensive, and unjust U.S. health care system.


The Choice Between Implied Warranty And Tort Liability For Recovery Of Pure Economic Loss In "Contract-Torts": A Comparison Of Judicial And Private Ordering In The Real Property Market, Norman Siebrasse Oct 1996

The Choice Between Implied Warranty And Tort Liability For Recovery Of Pure Economic Loss In "Contract-Torts": A Comparison Of Judicial And Private Ordering In The Real Property Market, Norman Siebrasse

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Supreme Court's decision in Winnipeg Condo. Corp. No. 36 v. Bird Construction expanded recovery for pure economic loss in tort by allowing a subsequent purchaser to recover the cost of repairing a dangerous defect arising out of negligence in the construction of a building. This article outlines the theoretical justifications for extended tort liability when the parties are linked by a contractual chain but are not in privity, and concludes that it is not possible to determine whether extended liability is desirable without considering the details of the market in question. A comparison between tort liability and the protection …


A Note On The Nineteenth Century Law Of Seduction, J M. Bumsted, Wendy J. Owen Oct 1996

A Note On The Nineteenth Century Law Of Seduction, J M. Bumsted, Wendy J. Owen

Dalhousie Law Journal

The authors examine Prince Edward Island's Seduction Act of 1876, which departed from the model of seduction legislation of other Canadian provinces. Based on study of the limited surviving court records they note a number of ways in which the tort of seduction operated differently in nineteenth century Prince Edward Island than it did elsewhere


The Revival Of Tort Theory In Canada, Jamie Cassels Oct 1994

The Revival Of Tort Theory In Canada, Jamie Cassels

Dalhousie Law Journal

Tort scholarship in Canada has not traditionally been preoccupied with theory. Apart from several fine (doctrinally oriented) texts, by far the greatest amount of tort writing found in the journals is ad hoc and responsive to current is sues. It consists for the most part of case comments or 'recent development' articles inspired by important decisions from higher courts. Beyond this, a number of substantive topics and problem areas have recently been dealt with in some detail. There is alarge amount of literature, for example, on the liability of public authorities and professionals, sporting injuries, asbestos and environmental liability, and …


Law And Economics, Michael J. Trebilcock Oct 1993

Law And Economics, Michael J. Trebilcock

Dalhousie Law Journal

Prior to 1960, most North American law schools paid attention only to anti-trust, public utility regulation, and perhaps tax policy from a law and economics perspective (sometimes referred to as the "old" law and economics). However, beginning in the early 1960's with pioneering articles by Guido Calabresi on tort law and Ronald Coase (the 1991 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics) on property rights, followed by prolific writings and a comprehensive text by Richard Posner on a vast range of legal issues, the field of law and economics has burgeoned with many lawyers and economists around the world now …


Negligence, Strict Liability, And Manufacturer Failure To Warn: On Fitting Round Pegs In A Square Hole, Denis W. Boivin Oct 1993

Negligence, Strict Liability, And Manufacturer Failure To Warn: On Fitting Round Pegs In A Square Hole, Denis W. Boivin

Dalhousie Law Journal

In the common law provinces of Canada, it is generally recognized that a plaintiff in a products liability action in tort must prove four elements in order to succeed: first, that the product contains a defect traceable either to its manufacture, to its design, orto its warnings or instructions; second, that the defendant manufacturer was somehow negligent in connection with this defect; third, that there is some causal connection between the manufacturer's negligence and the damages suffered by the plaintiff; and fourth, that these damages are such as to give rise to compensation in law. In the United States, in …


Charles Handbook On Assessment Of Damages In Personal Injury Cases, Roger Harris May 1992

Charles Handbook On Assessment Of Damages In Personal Injury Cases, Roger Harris

Dalhousie Law Journal

This is the second edition of Professor Charles' aptly titled Handbook. The first edition was a simple reprint of a thirty-three page article that was originally published in the Canadian Cases on the Law of Torts, together with the 1978 Supreme Court "Trilogy"judgements themselves. While it provided a convenient capsulization of the issues, it clearly lacked the depth necessary to deal fully with many of the complexities involved, and the rationale for its publication was questionable (no matter how eminent its author or handsome its presentation, can any case comment really be worth $40.00?). Happily, the second edition has developed …


Morguard Investments Limited: Reforming Federalism From The Top, Peter Finkle, Simon Coakeley Oct 1991

Morguard Investments Limited: Reforming Federalism From The Top, Peter Finkle, Simon Coakeley

Dalhousie Law Journal

Nations are not only unified markets, but usually they are at least that. In most discussions about national unity, adequate account is taken of the importance of the free movement of goods, capital and people. Rarely, though, does the discussion encompass the necessity of legally assuring such movement in the domestic marketplace through the practical modality of secure remedies for breaches of obligations in contracts and tort. De Savoye v. Morguard Investments Ltd is a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of Canada that considers the extent of jurisdiction that provincial courts may exercise and the associated concern with the …


Canadian Tort Law: A Review For The Nineties, B T. Hill Oct 1991

Canadian Tort Law: A Review For The Nineties, B T. Hill

Dalhousie Law Journal

My purpose in writing this review follows from a tradition initiated by feminist scholars. My analysis of Canadian Tort Law. Cases, Notes and Materials begins with a survey of the casebook with commentary concerning its historical development as a casebook, focussing on instances where gender issues are raised. I then offer a critique concerning the lack of consideration and misappropriation of gender issues in the recently released 1990 edition of the casebook, using illustrative examples from the casebook and a selection of two feminists' critique of tort law. Some modest suggestions for improvement are made throughout the review, and the …


Studies In Modern Choice-Of-Law: Torts, Insurance, Land Titles, Sheldon Wein Nov 1984

Studies In Modern Choice-Of-Law: Torts, Insurance, Land Titles, Sheldon Wein

Dalhousie Law Journal

This is a collection of the more important articles on conflict of laws that Professor Hancock has written since 1960; in addition, it contains a chapter, hitherto unpublished, on Allstate Ins. Co. v. Hague,' the Supreme Court's most recent foray into constitutional limitations on the power of a state to apply its law in situations involving foreign facts. Many of us undoubtedly read the majority of these essays at the time when they first appeared in law review form. It is good that they are now available in a single book. We are thereby afforded a convenient opportunity to refresh …


Note On Developments In Torts, Michael T. Hertz Jul 1976

Note On Developments In Torts, Michael T. Hertz

Dalhousie Law Journal

Between October 1974 and March 1975, the Nova Scotia Law News synopsized some forty Nova Scotia tort cases. This note will not attempt to duplicate that coverage, but rather to elaborate upon a few of the points raised in those cases and to emphasize a number of Supreme Court of Canada decisions which should have tangible effect upon our provincial tort law.