Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 30 of 43

Full-Text Articles in Law

Conceptions Of Authority And The Anglo-American Common Law Divide, Dan Priel Apr 2016

Conceptions Of Authority And The Anglo-American Common Law Divide, Dan Priel

Articles & Book Chapters

This essay seeks to explain the puzzle of the divergence of American law from the rest of the common law world through the lens of legal theory. I argue that there are four competing ideal-type theories of the authority of the common law: reason, practice, custom, and will. The reason view explains the authority of the common law in terms of correspondence to the demands of pure practical reason; the practice view sees the authority of the common law as derived from the expertise of practitioners (especially judges and practice-oriented academics) who try to develop the common law as a …


Book Review: The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind—And Changed The History Of Free Speech In America, By Thomas Healy, Jamie Cameron Jan 2016

Book Review: The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind—And Changed The History Of Free Speech In America, By Thomas Healy, Jamie Cameron

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This is a book review of Healy, Thomas. The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed his Mind—and Changed the History of Free Speech in America. Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Co. 2013.


Dead Hands, Living Trees, Historic Compromises: The Senate Reform And Supreme Court Act References Bring The Originalism Debate To Canada, J. Gareth Morley Jan 2016

Dead Hands, Living Trees, Historic Compromises: The Senate Reform And Supreme Court Act References Bring The Originalism Debate To Canada, J. Gareth Morley

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Recent American debates about the relationship between the historic political compromises underlying constitutional provisions and their contemporary judicial application have been largely ignored in Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada has only twice referred to originalism—and never positively. But in two 2014 decisions about how central institutions of government—the Senate and the Supreme Court of Canada itself—might be changed, the Court relied on the underlying historic political compromises to interpret the Constitution, rejecting arguments from the text or democratic principle. In this article, I consider how Canadian courts have looked to history in the past and in the 2014 decisions, …


The Duty Of Corporate Directors To Tie Executive Compensation To The Long-Term Sustainability Of The Firm, Alberto Salazar, Muthana Mohamed Jan 2016

The Duty Of Corporate Directors To Tie Executive Compensation To The Long-Term Sustainability Of The Firm, Alberto Salazar, Muthana Mohamed

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

Executive compensation is said to be for performance and, in liberal market economies, the board of directors along with compensation committees have largely been in charge of safeguarding pay for performance. This executive compensation system is legally protected by the business judgment rule (a strong judicial deference) and has recently been supplemented with shareholders’ ‘say on pay’. Further legal or government intervention has been deemed unnecessary. However, such system has resulted in extremely excessive executive compensation, outrageous pay disparities between executives and workers, poor or short-term performance, recurrent corporate failures and economic recession. This paper explores the need for a …


Formal Versus Functional Method In Comparative Constitutional Law, Francesca Bignami Jan 2016

Formal Versus Functional Method In Comparative Constitutional Law, Francesca Bignami

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

In the field of comparative constitutional law, the dominant approach to concept formation and research design is formal. That is, comparative projects generally identify what counts as the supreme law that can be enforced against all other sources of law based on the “constitutional” label of the positive law (written constitutions and the jurisprudence of constitutional courts) and the law books. This formal method, however, has significant limitations when compared with the functional method used in the field of comparative law more generally speaking. After a brief exposition of the functional method, this article explores the advantages of the functional …


From Principles To Rules: The Case For Statutory Rules Governing Aspects Of Judicial Disqualification, Jula Hughes, Philip Bryden Jan 2016

From Principles To Rules: The Case For Statutory Rules Governing Aspects Of Judicial Disqualification, Jula Hughes, Philip Bryden

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The common law “reasonable apprehension of bias” test for judicial disqualification is highly fact- and context-specific. While there are good reasons for this approach as a general proposition, it also gives rise to considerable uncertainty for both judges and litigants in considering whether or not it is appropriate for a judge to sit in a marginal case. This article explores statutory judicial disqualification regimes in the United States, Germany, and Quebec to gain insights into how statutory rules can be employed to provide greater clarity to judges and litigants who are addressing situations that have the potential to give rise …


Corruption And Development: The Need For International Investigations With A Multijurisdictional Approach Involving Multilateral Development Banks And National Authorities, Juan G. Ronderos, Michelle Ratpan, Andrea Osorio Rincon Sep 2015

Corruption And Development: The Need For International Investigations With A Multijurisdictional Approach Involving Multilateral Development Banks And National Authorities, Juan G. Ronderos, Michelle Ratpan, Andrea Osorio Rincon

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

We argue that while Multilateral Development Banks (“MDBs”) and national governments have mechanisms to fight corruption, the objectives and outcomes of these enforcement mechanisms diverge. MDBs are interested in the causes and effects of corruption from a development perspective and, as such, tend to sanction small and medium enterprises and individuals, while national governments are focused on a more punitive outcome, targeting larger multinational corporations. This article examines the enforcement objectives articulated in national legislation, namely the US Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act and its Canadian counterpart, the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, as well as several Canadian cases, …


Banning Bribes Abroad: Us Enforcement Of The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Ellen Gutterman Sep 2015

Banning Bribes Abroad: Us Enforcement Of The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Ellen Gutterman

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The United States has been at the forefront of international efforts to combat corruption in the global economy for almost forty years, chiefly through its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act [FCPA]. Over the past decade, US enforcement of the FCPA has surged in terms of both the number of enforcement actions and the application of increasingly expansive interpretations of jurisdiction through which to enforce the FCPA on an extraterritorial basis. Extraterritorial enforcement of the FCPA has promoted anti-corruption policies and the banning of bribes abroad, but three aspects of FCPA enforcement shape and constrain the broader goals of global anti-corruption governance …


Taxation And Inequality In Canada And The United States: Two Stories Or One?, Richard M. Bird, Eric M. Zolt Jan 2015

Taxation And Inequality In Canada And The United States: Two Stories Or One?, Richard M. Bird, Eric M. Zolt

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Canada and the United States have both experienced a substantial increase in income inequality over the last several decades. In this article, we examine the complex interaction of income inequality with tax and transfer systems in Canada and the United States. We begin by comparing the data on taxation and expenditure to understand the similarities and differences between the two countries. We then consider how changes to tax and transfer policies have affected the levels of inequality in both countries. The article concludes by offering some policy recommendations that each country may consider to address the increasing levels of inequality.


Catherine Lennon's Story: Lessons From Front Line Advocacy On The Human Right To Housing, Rob Robinson Jan 2015

Catherine Lennon's Story: Lessons From Front Line Advocacy On The Human Right To Housing, Rob Robinson

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Discusses the United States housing crisis, where four and a half million families were foreclosed on between 2008 and 2013. Families who lacked universal or adequate health insurance, found the physical pain and suffering of a loved one was soon followed by the economic pain and suffering associated with the high costs of health care. The human reality of this suffering is reflected by the story of New York state resident Catherine Lennon. Ensuring the pay out to Bank of America was the law firm of Steven J. Baum, the notorious New York based foreclosure mill, which has since been …


The Teaching Of Procedure Across Common Law Systems, Erik S. Knutsen, Thomas D. Rowe Jr., David Bamford, Shirley Shipman Oct 2013

The Teaching Of Procedure Across Common Law Systems, Erik S. Knutsen, Thomas D. Rowe Jr., David Bamford, Shirley Shipman

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

What difference does the teaching of procedure make to legal education, legal scholarship, the legal profession, and civil justice reform? This first of four articles on the teaching of procedure canvasses the landscape of current approaches to the teaching of procedure in four legal systems— the United States, Canada, Australia, and England and Wales—surveying the place of procedure in the law school curriculum and in professional training, the kinds of subjects that “procedure” encompasses, and the various ways in which procedure is learned. Little sustained re flection has been carried out as to the import and impact of this longstanding …


Learning The 'How' Of The Law: Teaching Procedure And Legal Education, David Bamford, Trevor C. W. Farrow, Michael Karayanni, Erik S. Knutsen Oct 2013

Learning The 'How' Of The Law: Teaching Procedure And Legal Education, David Bamford, Trevor C. W. Farrow, Michael Karayanni, Erik S. Knutsen

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article examines the approaches to teaching civil procedure in five common law jurisdictions (Canada, Australia, United States, Israel, and England). The paper demonstrates the important transition of civil procedure from a vocational oriented subject to a rigorous intellectual study of policies, processes, and values underpinning our civil justice system, and analysis of how that system operates. The advantages and disadvantages of where civil procedure fits within the curriculum are discussed and the significant opportunities for ‘active’ learning are highlighted. The inclusion of England where civil procedure is not taught to any significant degree in the law degree provides a …


Solving The Problem From Hell: Tripartism As A Strategy For Addressing Labour Standards Non-Compliance In The United States, Janice Fine Apr 2013

Solving The Problem From Hell: Tripartism As A Strategy For Addressing Labour Standards Non-Compliance In The United States, Janice Fine

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The crises of wage theft and industrial accidents in low-wage America reflect erosion of the social contract but they also reflect a crisis in labour standards enforcement. This article draws upon archival material, case studies, and interviews to make the case for tripartism—an enforcement regime that partners workers’ organizations with government inspectors to patrol workers’ industries and labour markets for unfair competition. It extends to the federal level previous work in which Jennifer Gordon and i have documented dynamic contemporary examples of tripartism at the state and local levels. The article explores historical precedents for tripartist collaboration on the federal …


Attacks On Public-Sector Bargaining As Attacks On Employee Voice: A (Partial) Defence Of The Wagner Act Model, Joseph Slater Apr 2013

Attacks On Public-Sector Bargaining As Attacks On Employee Voice: A (Partial) Defence Of The Wagner Act Model, Joseph Slater

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The attacks on public-sector union rights in the United States that began in 2011 are one of the most important developments in labour law in recent memory. These events shed light on employee voice issues, and on the continuing viability of the “Wagner Act” model. While declining union density rates in the private sector have prompted some to question this model, high-density rates in the public sector show that unions can flourish under it. This article gives an overview of public-sector unions in the US and summarizes the recent attacks on their rights. It then addresses rulings in both Missouri …


Employee Self-Representation And The Law In The United States, Matthew W. Finkin Apr 2013

Employee Self-Representation And The Law In The United States, Matthew W. Finkin

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Collective representation has been a legal focal point in the United States for nearly a century. Little attention has been paid to the law in the obverse situation: individual self-representation. This essay explores how, on some issues, the law supports a regime of individual bargaining while, on others, is antithetical to it. In other words, US law is incoherent on the matter. By reference to law in Australia and New Zealand, this paper argues that more legal space can be created for employees to represent themselves.


The Charter's Influence Around The World, Mark Tushnet Jan 2013

The Charter's Influence Around The World, Mark Tushnet

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Over the past several decades, the influence of the United States Constitution and Supreme Court around the world has waned while that of the Canadian Charter and Supreme Court has increased. This article examines several reasons for these changes, including: the relative ages of the constitutions; the US Supreme Court’s recent conservatism; the Canadian Supreme Court’s role in developing the doctrine of proportionality; the US Supreme Court’s interest in originalism; differing structures of constitutional review and judicial supremacy; and the two Courts’ relative openness to transnational influences.


A Tale Of Two Maps: The Limits Of Universalism In Comparative Judicial Review, Adam M. Dodek Apr 2009

A Tale Of Two Maps: The Limits Of Universalism In Comparative Judicial Review, Adam M. Dodek

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

For most of the twentieth century, the dominant paradigm in comparative public law was particularism. This was accompanied by a strong skepticism towards universalist features and possibilities in public law and, especially, constitutional law. With the rise of judicial review after World War I--and especially in Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union--comparative judicial review has begun to flourish. However, comparative scholarship on judicial review overemphasizes the centrality of "the question of legitimacy" of judicial review in a democratic polity. This has been a result of the mistaken extrapolation of the American debate over judicial review to other …


American Citations And The Mclachlin Court: An Empirical Study, Peter Mccormick Jan 2009

American Citations And The Mclachlin Court: An Empirical Study, Peter Mccormick

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article examines the use of American jurisprudence by the judges of the McLachlin Court, using an earlier study of such citations as a reference point. In addition to tracking overall use of American citations over time, it looks at these trends: which Canadian judges use American cases and for which types of cases; and which American cases, courts, and judges are being cited. Brief descriptions of the Supreme Court cases with the largest use of American citations precede a categorization of the results. The article confirms previous academic findings that the use of American citations have been modest, with …


Bisexuals Need Not Apply: A Comparative Appraisal Of Refugee Law And Policy In Canada, The United States, And Australia, Sean Rehaag Jan 2009

Bisexuals Need Not Apply: A Comparative Appraisal Of Refugee Law And Policy In Canada, The United States, And Australia, Sean Rehaag

Articles & Book Chapters

This paper offers an analysis of refugee claims on grounds of bisexuality. After discussing the grounds on which sexual minorities may qualify for refugee status under international refugee law, the paper empirically assesses the success rates of bisexual refugee claimants in three major host states: Canada, the United States, and Australia. It concludes that bisexuals are significantly less successful than other sexual minority groups in obtaining refugee status in those countries. Through an examination of selected published decisions involving bisexual refugee claimants, the author identifies two main areas for concern that may partly account for the difficulties that bisexual refugee …


Judicial Review And American Constitutional Exceptionalism, Miguel Schor Jul 2008

Judicial Review And American Constitutional Exceptionalism, Miguel Schor

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article challenges the conventional view of the pervasiveness of American-style judicial review. It questions why social movements contest constitutional meaning by fighting over judicial appointments in the United States, and why this strategy makes little sense in democracies that constitutionalized rights in the late twentieth century. The United States has been both a model and an anti-model in the global spread of judicial review, as the hope of Marbury (constitutionalized rights) has been tempered by the fear of Lochner [courts run amok). In reconciling Marbury and Lochner, other polities have adopted stronger mechanisms of judicial accountability that make it …


Flexibilization, Globalization, And Privatization: Three Challenges To Labour Rights In Our Time, Katherine V. W. Stone Jan 2006

Flexibilization, Globalization, And Privatization: Three Challenges To Labour Rights In Our Time, Katherine V. W. Stone

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Three dynamics are coalescing to reshape labour relations in the twenty-first century in the United States: They are flexibilization, globalization, and privatization. Flexibilization refers to the changing work practices by which firms no longer use internal labour markets or implicitly promise employees lifetime job security, but rather seek flexible employment relations that permit them to increase or diminish their workforce, and reassign and redeploy employees with ease. Globalization refers to the increase in cross-border transactions in the production and marketing of goods and services that facilitates firm relocation to low labour cost countries. And privatization refers to the rise of …


The Federal Court Of Australia's Power To Terminate Properly Instituted Class Actions, Vince Morabito Jul 2004

The Federal Court Of Australia's Power To Terminate Properly Instituted Class Actions, Vince Morabito

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The regime governing class actions in the Federal Court of Australia is unique, by international standards, as it does not require the formal authorisation of the Court before a proceeding may be brought and conducted as a class action. A class action may be commenced in the Federal Court as long as certain prerequisites are satisfied. Another unique aspect of this regime is that wide powers have been conferred upon the Court to terminate, as class actions, proceedings that have complied with the requirements for commencing a class action. It is the aim of this article to explore the conceptual …


Legal Responses To Mass Protest Actions: The Dramatic Role Of Solidarity In Obtaining Generous Plea Bargains, Frances Olsen Apr 2003

Legal Responses To Mass Protest Actions: The Dramatic Role Of Solidarity In Obtaining Generous Plea Bargains, Frances Olsen

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Comments on police and other government officials attempts to control protest activities by limiting parade permits and instigating confrontations with demonstrators. Focuses on WTO meeting in Seattle, Washington in November, 1999; the World Bank meeting in Washington, D.C. in April, 2000; and the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, California in 2000.


Financial Collapse And Class Status: Who Goes Bankrupt?, Elizabeth Warren Jan 2003

Financial Collapse And Class Status: Who Goes Bankrupt?, Elizabeth Warren

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Every policy prescription, economic analysis, or news report about consumer bankruptcy rests on one or another unspoken image of the estimated 1.5 million families that will file in a single year. Data from the 2001 Consumer Bankruptcy Project permit a systematic analysis of the composition of those who file for personal bankruptcy, focusing on their education, occupation, and home ownership status. These attributes serve as a proxy for class identification. Based on these indicia, more than 90 per cent of the families in bankruptcy qualify as middle class. These data are a powerful reminder that whatever else might be said …


Using The Charter To Stop Racial Profiling: The Development Of An Equality-Based Conception Of Arbitrary Detention, David M. Tanovich Apr 2002

Using The Charter To Stop Racial Profiling: The Development Of An Equality-Based Conception Of Arbitrary Detention, David M. Tanovich

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Do the police use race as a proxy for criminality, particularly, in drug cases? If so, is this a rational discriminatory practice that is based on who the usual offender is or an offensive exercise of racial prejudice? What are the consequences for those communities targeted by the police? This article investigates these questions that have gone unanswered for too long in Canada. After offering a definition of racial profiling, evidence is presented that suggests that the practice is rampant in the United States and is likely practiced by some Canadian police forces, particularly, in cities with large visible minority …


The Death Penalty, Mandatory Prison Sentences, And The Eighth Amendment's Rule Against Cruel And Unusual Punishments, Jamie Cameron Apr 2001

The Death Penalty, Mandatory Prison Sentences, And The Eighth Amendment's Rule Against Cruel And Unusual Punishments, Jamie Cameron

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The text of section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibit cruel and unusual punishment in language that is similar but not identical. Still, in considering constitutional restrictions on punishment, the deviations of the Supreme Court both focus on the concept of gross disproportionality between the offence committed and the state’s response. Despite the appearance of similarity, this article maintains that differences in the American law of sentencing explain why Canada ought not follow or adopt the United States approach to minimum sentences.


Sentencing In The States: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, Julie Stewart Apr 2001

Sentencing In The States: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, Julie Stewart

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Mandatory sentencing laws are responsible for the booming prison population in the United States. They are applied most frequently to crimes involving drugs and mandate harsh penalties of five, ten, twenty years or more behind bars for crimes involving no violence. Julie Stewart, President of the Families Against Mandatory Minimums Foundation (FAMM) and the sister of a marijuana user who spent five years in a federal prison, describes the unfairness of America’s sentencing policies, with a particular emphasis on the application of mandatory minimum sentences to drug-related convictions. These laws have led to a marked increase in the number of …


Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide In The Post-Rodriguez Era: Lessons From Foreign Jurisdictions, Michael Cormack Oct 2000

Euthanasia And Assisted Suicide In The Post-Rodriguez Era: Lessons From Foreign Jurisdictions, Michael Cormack

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are highly controversial subjects that have drawn much attention in Canada over the last two decades. This paper outlines how the Netherlands, the United States, Australia, and Canada have approached the practices. Jurisprudence, public opinion polls, legislative developments, and the positions of medical organizations and their members are included in the analysis. A number of arguments for and against the continued prohibition of the practices in Canada are evaluated. As well, information regarding the extent to which euthanasia and assisted suicide are performed in these countries is assessed. It will be shown that Canadians currently enjoy …


Poor Canadian Legal Education: So Near To Wall Street, So Far From God, Harry W. Arthurs Jul 2000

Poor Canadian Legal Education: So Near To Wall Street, So Far From God, Harry W. Arthurs

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The recent appearance of recruiters from Wall Street firms at several Canadian law schools, and the recent hiring by American law schools of several mid-career Canadian law professors, has created a "moral panic" as journalists, academics and law firms have expressed great concern over the loss of Canada's "best and brightest" to the United States. Properly understood as part of a larger debate about globalization and regional economic integration, these developments are less important in themselves than for what they reveal about the present and future of the Canadian state, and the Canadian business community, legal profession and universities.


Challenges For Cause, Stand-Asides, And Peremptory Challenges In The Nineteenth Century, R. Blake Brown Jul 2000

Challenges For Cause, Stand-Asides, And Peremptory Challenges In The Nineteenth Century, R. Blake Brown

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article examines the substantial differences that emerged during the nineteenth century between the law of England, the United States, and Canada regarding challenges for cause, stand-asides, and peremptory challenges in the jury selection process. The author argues that these differences stemmed from the unique social conditions of each country. The emergence of legal formalism-with its emphasis on certainty and predictability in the law-affected the development of jury challenges, though the result of formalist thinking had very different effects in all three jurisdictions. In addition, Canadian law regarding jury challenges reveals the influence of both American and English legal trends.