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Full-Text Articles in Law
A "Reasonable" Expectation Of Sexual Privacy Inthe Digital Age, Moira Aikenhead
A "Reasonable" Expectation Of Sexual Privacy Inthe Digital Age, Moira Aikenhead
Dalhousie Law Journal
Two Criminal Code offences, voyeurism, and the publication of intimate images without consent, were enacted toprotect Canadians' right to sexual privacy in light of invasive digital technologies. Women and girls are overwhelmingly targeted as victims for both of these offences, given the higher value placed on their non-consensual, sexualised images in an unequal society.Both offences require an analysis ofwhether the complainant was in circumstances giving rise to a reasonable expectation of privacy, and the use of this standard is potentially problematic both from a feminist standpoint and in light of the rapidly evolving technological realities of the digital age. This …
On Being A Second: Grace Wambolt, Legal Professionalism And 'Inter-Wave' Feminism In Nova Scotia, Elizabeth Legge
On Being A Second: Grace Wambolt, Legal Professionalism And 'Inter-Wave' Feminism In Nova Scotia, Elizabeth Legge
Dalhousie Law Journal
Grace Wambolt was the fifth female graduate of Dalhousie Law School and the second woman to practise law in Nova Scotia. She was one of the relatively few female lawyers in Canada (up to the influx of the nineteen-seventies) who practiced law following the push by the first female lawyers for the elimination of formal barriers to practice. This paper examines the similarities and differences between the "firsts" and those who followed them, primarily by looking at the life of Wambolt and her letters and speeches preserved in the Wambolt fonds located in the Nova Scotia Archives and donated by …
An Analysis Of Gender In Admission To The Canadian Common Law Schools From 1985-86 To 1994-95, Brian M. Mazer
An Analysis Of Gender In Admission To The Canadian Common Law Schools From 1985-86 To 1994-95, Brian M. Mazer
Dalhousie Law Journal
Using statistical data covering a ten year period, this study examines the issue of gender representation in admissions to first year law study at common law schools in Canada. After addressing three identifiable steps in the admission process-applications, offers and registration-the author concludes that while there has been progress and the gap has narrowed, the problem of gender inequality persists.
Siberian Tigers And Exotic Birds: Ronald Dworkin's Map Of The Sacred, Hester Lessard
Siberian Tigers And Exotic Birds: Ronald Dworkin's Map Of The Sacred, Hester Lessard
Dalhousie Law Journal
At its most abstract, Life's Dominion: An Argument about Abortion, Euthanasia, and Individual Freedom is a meditation on the nature of individual freedom. However, as author Ronald Dworkin explains at the end of Chapter One, he believes in doing philosophy in much the same way common law jurists believe in doing law-from the inside out-that is, by starting with a concrete problem and then proceeding to the more general questions raised by that problem. According to Dworkin, this generates a theory that is appropriately tailored to the issue, "Savile Row" so to speak, rather than "Seventh Avenue," and thus a …
A Comment On The Canadian Bar Association's Gender Equality Task Force Report, Dianne Pothier
A Comment On The Canadian Bar Association's Gender Equality Task Force Report, Dianne Pothier
Dalhousie Law Journal
The Canadian Bar Association's Gender Equality Task Force Report sets out to challenge the traditions of a male model of the legal profession. The title of the Report, Touchstones for Change: Equality, Diversity, and Accountability, announces the challenge. Although in a formal sense the legal profession has been open to women since well before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council acknowledged women's eligibility to be Senators, the sad truth is that, in many respects, the legal profession is still not a welcoming environment to women. While women are entering the profession in greater numbers than ever before, they are …
Psychiatric Evidence Of Sexual Assault Victims: The Need For Fundamental Change In The Determination Of Relevance, Sadie Bond
Dalhousie Law Journal
What follows is a discussion of the use of evidence of the complainant's psychiatric history in sexual assault trials. I will argue that the introduction of this evidence is sought mainly for the purpose of discrediting the complainant's testimony, as part of an "attack the victim" strategy. The admissibility of this evidence as relevant is the product of unfounded myths and sex-biased, if not misogynist, views about women. This evidence is rarely, if ever, relevant and its minimal probative value is, in most cases, far outweighed by its potential for exacerbating or perpetuating sex bias in the sexual assault trial. …
The Role Of The Judiciary In The Work Of Madame Justice Wilson, Christine Boyle
The Role Of The Judiciary In The Work Of Madame Justice Wilson, Christine Boyle
Dalhousie Law Journal
My topic is the role of the judiciary in the work of Madame Justice Wilson, but I am going to use a particular focus. I started with the famous lecture "Do Women Judges Really Make a Difference" delivered at Osgoode Hall Law School7 and it helped me think of a question. What is it that women judges might make a difference to? One answer is the law, another is judging itself. These themes were very clear in Madame Justice Wilson's lecture. Another answer, however, is the concept of woman. When women judges make a difference to law, part of what …
The Hidden Gender Of Law, Christine Boyle
The Hidden Gender Of Law, Christine Boyle
Dalhousie Law Journal
Two legal academics who set out to produce a book of materials with such a title could weave many components into it. They could explore feminist methodology, and show how much feminist legal scholarship has in common with feminist scholarship generally. They could illustrate the influence of feminist academic work on actual legal decisions and legislation. They could discuss feminist scholarship and legal education, including the dramatic developments over the last twenty years. Questions about fundamental values - equality, liberty, security, fairness - could be addressed. Materials could be included from the field of law often called Women and the …
Abortion Law In Canada: A Matter Of National Concern, Moira Mcconnell, Lorenne Clark
Abortion Law In Canada: A Matter Of National Concern, Moira Mcconnell, Lorenne Clark
Dalhousie Law Journal
Canada's newest abortion legislation, embodied in Bill C-43, was defeated in the Senate on January 31st, 1991. The Bill sought to remedy the state of "lawlessness" which has existed respecting abortion ever since the decision reached by the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Morgentaler in January, 1988. However, this determination is incorrect. The law is quite clear: there is no criminal prohibition against abortion in Canada. This follows directly from the Court's holding in the Morgentaler decision that the old law, s. 287 (formerly s.251) of the Criminal Code, infringed a woman's right to security and liberty of …
Judging And Equality: For Whom Does The Chartertoll?, A Wayne Mackay
Judging And Equality: For Whom Does The Chartertoll?, A Wayne Mackay
Dalhousie Law Journal
While it may be in questionable taste to begin an article on equality with a poem that uses "man" in the global sense, John Donne's words do evoke a sense of community that feminists would applaud.' The tension between an individualistic and communitarian approach to the world is crucial to how equality will be defined in Canada. Violations of equality diminish the rights and dignity of all Canadians and not just the particular individuals or the specific groups who are the immediate victims of inequality. This recognition is only the beginning of the complex task of defining equality as guaranteed …
Prostitution And Pornography: Beyond Formalequality, Christine Boyle, Sheila Noonan
Prostitution And Pornography: Beyond Formalequality, Christine Boyle, Sheila Noonan
Dalhousie Law Journal
Both issues that are the subject of this paper raise questions relating to the meaning and application of section 15 of the Canadian Charter ofRights and Freedoms.' They provide case studies of the difficulties in putting an abstract concept, such as equality, into practical legal effect.
Equality, Ideology And Oppression: Women And Thecanadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms, N Colleen Sheppard
Equality, Ideology And Oppression: Women And Thecanadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms, N Colleen Sheppard
Dalhousie Law Journal
The major objective of this article is to contribute to an understanding of the potential impact of the equality provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms2 on the lives of women. This requires an awareness of the realities of women's inequality in our society, an understanding of the legal conceptualization of equality, and a consideration of the role of "law" in remedying societal injustice. My focus in this article is on the second concern-that is, on legal theories of equality as they relate to women. I begin with a brief outline of the conflicting ideological approaches that infuse …
Judging And Equality: Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?, Edward J. Mcbride
Judging And Equality: Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?, Edward J. Mcbride
Dalhousie Law Journal
"Equality," like law, politics, and life itself, displays myriad aspects. Reflections on equality, therefore, must take many differentforms, as this volume will subsequently demonstrate. Now that Canada has entrenched equality as a constitutional value, facets of the issue seem to proliferate, almost without end. Questions abound: Will the equality guarantees be confined to public action only? What constitutes public action? Will the enumerated categories protected against discrimination be supplemented by incorporation of unenumerated categories? Will a conventional liberal point of view inform the development of equality under the Charter? What part will a crystallizing feminist perspective play in the process? …
Women, Pensions And Equality, Susannah Worth Rowley
Women, Pensions And Equality, Susannah Worth Rowley
Dalhousie Law Journal
A society's values are reflected in its treatment of the elderly. The relationship of the aged to the rest of the population and the social and economic hierarchy within the aged as a group provide tangible and graphic evidence of a society's most fundamental values and attitudes. Who is rewarded and for what? What qualities and contributions are valued, and to what extent?
Sexual Divisions In Law, Christine Boyle
Sexual Divisions In Law, Christine Boyle
Dalhousie Law Journal
I remember Katherine O'Donovan vividly. She was a young law lecturer at Queen's University Belfast when I was a first-year student there seventeen years ago. Law, on the whole, does not provide a large number of women to stimulate one's aspirations, but Katherine O'Donovan would have been outstanding in any context. She was clever and as beautiful as her name. She has written an outstanding book.