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Articles 31 - 60 of 135
Full-Text Articles in Legal History
Long Overdue: A Reappraisal Of Section 121 Of The Constitution Act, 1867, Ian A. Blue
Long Overdue: A Reappraisal Of Section 121 Of The Constitution Act, 1867, Ian A. Blue
Dalhousie Law Journal
This article offers a new interpretation of s. 121 of the Constitution Act, 1867. The author re-evaluates the traditional interpretation of s. 121, found in Gold Seal Limited v. The Attorney General of the Province of Alberta. That interpretation limited the application of s. 121 to prohibiting interprovincial "customs duties" but nothing else. The author analyzes s. 121 using a purposive approach. After reviewing the provision's wording, legislative history, legislative context and its place within the scheme of the Act, the article concludes that a purposive and progressive interpretation leads to a more robust role for s. 121. Thus interpreted, …
Ivan Rand's Ancient Constitutionalism, Jonathon Penney
Ivan Rand's Ancient Constitutionalism, Jonathon Penney
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Few names loom larger than Ivan Rand’s in the history of Canadian law. If anything, Rand has retained his image as a courageous judge willing to bend the law in creative ways to seek justice and protect the rights of oppressed minorities. But Rand’s legal ideas have not faired as well. Over the years, his theory of “implied rights,” and view of the judicial role, has been criticized as incoherent and indefensible. The central aim of this paper is to challenge these criticisms. I want to offer a solution by reconstructing an overlooked component of his legal thought: a form …
Ivan Rand's Ancient Constitutionalism, Jonathon Penney
Ivan Rand's Ancient Constitutionalism, Jonathon Penney
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Few names loom larger than Ivan Rand’s in the history of Canadian law. If anything, Rand has retained his image as a courageous judge willing to bend the law in creative ways to seek justice and protect the rights of oppressed minorities. But Rand’s legal ideas have not faired as well. Over the years, his theory of “implied rights,” and view of the judicial role, has been criticized as incoherent and indefensible. The central aim of this paper is to challenge these criticisms. I want to offer a solution by reconstructing an overlooked component of his legal thought: a form …
Introduction (Excerpt) In Justice Bertha Wilson: One Woman's Difference, Kim Brooks
Introduction (Excerpt) In Justice Bertha Wilson: One Woman's Difference, Kim Brooks
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Bertha Wilson was the first woman to be appointed to Canada's Supreme Court in 1982. Her appointment capped off a career of firsts. She had been the first woman lawyer and partner at a prominent Toronto law firm and the first woman appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal. Her career and passing in 2007 have provoked reflection on her contributions to Canadian society and caused many to reflect on the question she herself posed: what difference do women judges make? What follows is an excerpt from the introduction to the book. The chapters of the book explore a broad …
R' Blake Brown, A Trying Question: The Jury In Nineteenth-Century Canada, Mary Stokes
R' Blake Brown, A Trying Question: The Jury In Nineteenth-Century Canada, Mary Stokes
Dalhousie Law Journal
In a 1984 review essay on the inter-relationship(s) oflaw and society in English criminal law historiography, Doug Hay observed that "in history, there is no 'background,"" His point was that there are an infinite number ofbackgrounds, all of which are moving and changing, often in non-linear fashion, at different paces, either in counter-point or direct dialogue with the foreground which is the immediate subject ofexposition. Legal historians who put their topics "in context" by treating the background as static are now fortunately few, at least when this background is conceived of as social or economic. But as Hay observed, the …
Matters Of Faith And Conscience: A Turning Point In The Taking Of Oaths In Canada, David H. Michels
Matters Of Faith And Conscience: A Turning Point In The Taking Of Oaths In Canada, David H. Michels
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
The global expansion of the British Empire brought to its colonies British legal traditions. Non-British peoples and cultures had to adapt to these imposed legal traditions, but also left their own indelible marks of change. Following years of immigration in Canada, change was necessitated across the social order to accommodate new faiths and cultural practices of non-British origin. One example involved the taking of court oaths, a practice that in the British legal tradition traces its roots to the Protestant Christian faith. Focusing on the example of court oaths, we argue that as immigration surged at the turn of the …
Greg Taylor, The Law Of The Land: The Advent Of The Torrens System In Canada, Ca Mark Coffin
Greg Taylor, The Law Of The Land: The Advent Of The Torrens System In Canada, Ca Mark Coffin
Dalhousie Law Journal
In the fall of 1980 Charles W. MacIntosh, Q.C., then the head of the Land Registration and Information Service (L.R.I.S.), a federally funded initiative of the Council of Maritime Premiers, delivered a lecture to first year students at Dalhousie Law School. He announced with justifiable pride that Nova Scotia had enacted the Land Titles Act' and that the province would be moving to a Torrens system of title registration. The time for throwing off the centuries-old system ofdeeds registration, where the government provided a passive repository for title documents, was nigh! Nova Scotia would come to enjoy the benefits of …
R. Bitterman & M.E. Mccallum, Lady Landlords Of Prince Edward -Island: Imperial Dreams And The Defence Of Property, Jim Phillips
R. Bitterman & M.E. Mccallum, Lady Landlords Of Prince Edward -Island: Imperial Dreams And The Defence Of Property, Jim Phillips
Dalhousie Law Journal
On 23 July 23 1767, some four years after its acquisition of Saint John's Island [now Prince Edward Island] in the 1763 Treaty of Paris, Britain held a one-day lottery through which it distributed almost the entire island in sixty-six lots [townships] of about 20,000 acres each.' Many lots went to individuals, civil and military servants of the crown, including such notables as John Pownall, secretary to the Lords of Trade, and Admiral Augustus Keppel. Although none of the proprietors met the principal condition oftheir grant-that they settle the land within ten years with one Protestant settler for every 200 …
Cravath By The Sea: Recruitment In The Large Halifax Law Firm, 1900-1955, Jeffrey Haylock
Cravath By The Sea: Recruitment In The Large Halifax Law Firm, 1900-1955, Jeffrey Haylock
Dalhousie Law Journal
The traditional view is that regularized, meritocratic hiring in Canadian law firms had to wait until the 1960s, with the rise in importance of Ontario university law schools. There was, however, more regional variation than this view allows. After an overview of the rise of large firms in the U.S. and Canada, and of the modern hiring strategies (the "Cravath system") that developed in New York in the early twentieth century, the author considers whether Halifax firms were employing these strategies between 1900 and 1955. Nepotistic hiring continued unabated; however, the three large firms of the period recruited young students …
Acouple Of Generations Ahead Of Popular Demand': The First National Law Program At Mcgill University, 1918-1924, John Hobbins
Acouple Of Generations Ahead Of Popular Demand': The First National Law Program At Mcgill University, 1918-1924, John Hobbins
Dalhousie Law Journal
Following the First World War, Dean Robert Warden Lee introduced some radical changes to the curriculum at the McGill Law Faculty Three-year courses were instituted leading to either a civil law degree or a common law degree, and a four-year course in which both degrees could be obtained. The program was extremely controversial, running into opposition within the part-time faculty the Montreal legal community and the bar societies of several provinces. Difficulties in obtaining professional accreditation for the common law graduates led to a decline in enrollment, and the common law option was discontinued in 1926. Lee's vision of a …
The Origins Of A Coming Crisis: Renewal Of The Churchill Falls Contract, James P. Feehan, Melvin Baker
The Origins Of A Coming Crisis: Renewal Of The Churchill Falls Contract, James P. Feehan, Melvin Baker
Dalhousie Law Journal
The 1969 Churchill Falls contract between Hydro-Quebec and the Churchill Falls Labrador Corporation has been the subject of political controversy. It has also been challenged in the courts, with appeals reaching to the Supreme Court of Canada. Yet, despite the scrutiny of those court cases, the political rhetoric, and the literature that has been spawned by this matter, an extraordinary element of that contract remains remarkably obscure. It is the contract's renewal clause. At the expiry of the contract's forty-four-year term in 2016, that clause requires an automatic renewal for twenty-five additional years at a fixed nominal price that is …
Conflict Of Interest, Duress And Unconscionability In Quebec Civil Law: Comment On "The Origins Of A Coming Crisis: Renewal Of The'churchill Falls Contract", Sarah P. Bradley
Conflict Of Interest, Duress And Unconscionability In Quebec Civil Law: Comment On "The Origins Of A Coming Crisis: Renewal Of The'churchill Falls Contract", Sarah P. Bradley
Dalhousie Law Journal
As Professor James Feehan and archivist-historian Melvin Baker describe the circumstances in which the fateful renewal provision of the 1969 Churchill Falls hydro contract was negotiated, they suggest that the legal doctrines of conflict of interest or economic duress might offer a basis upon which the contract, or perhaps the renewal provision, could be impugned. In addition to interesting historical insights, their analysis offers the intriguing possibility that the government of Newfoundland may yet succeed in its long-standing battle to rid itself of its obligations under the grossly disadvantageous Churchill Falls contract.
Licence To Publish: Joseph Howe's Contribution To Libel Law In Nova Scotia, Lyndsay M. Campbell
Licence To Publish: Joseph Howe's Contribution To Libel Law In Nova Scotia, Lyndsay M. Campbell
Dalhousie Law Journal
In 1835, Joseph Howe was prosecuted for criminal libel after an attack on the Halifax magistracy appeared in his newspaper I argue that Howe's acquittal flowed from a combination of factors. Howe's newspaper was a reformist, but not radical, voice at a time when criticism of government was becoming legitimate and newspapers were becoming increasingly vociferous, despite uncertainty about how daring they could be. Howe was popular, and the magistrates and prosecution were not. Most remarkably, however, Howe used Starkies 1830 libel treatise to construct a novel defence-qualified privilege-which had considerable exculpatory potential. The judge declined to put it to …
Dual Class Shares In Canada: An Historical Analysis, Stephanie Ben-Ishai, Poonam Puri
Dual Class Shares In Canada: An Historical Analysis, Stephanie Ben-Ishai, Poonam Puri
Dalhousie Law Journal
Dual class shares have been used by Canadian corporations to access public capital markets for the past sixty years. The debates surrounding the regulation of dual class shares have been reenergized. The authors of this article argue that only by looking to the legitimating role of nationalist policy, legislation and discourse in the historical development of dual class share structures can we derive context to the current debates surrounding the regulation of dual class shares and obtain a fuller understanding of the contemporary issues theypresent. Based on an analysis of the use of dual class shares as a financing technique …
The One That Got Away: Fishery Reserves In Prince Edward Island, Rusty Bittermann, Margaret E. Mccallum
The One That Got Away: Fishery Reserves In Prince Edward Island, Rusty Bittermann, Margaret E. Mccallum
Dalhousie Law Journal
In 1767, the British government divided Prince Edward Island into sixty-seven townships of about 20,000 acres each, and allocated all but one of these to about one hundred people who had some claim on the Crown's munificence. Subsequently, Island governments complained of their disadvantaged state in comparison with other British North American colonies, which could raise revenue by selling rights to Crown land and resources. Their complaints, although not totally unjustified, did not acknowledge the extensive and valuable lands which the Crown retained as fishery reserves. Most of the township grants reserved rights to the first 500 feet of land …
The Dartmouth Schools Question And The Supreme Court Of Nova Scotia, Robert Nicholas Bérard
The Dartmouth Schools Question And The Supreme Court Of Nova Scotia, Robert Nicholas Bérard
Dalhousie Law Journal
Scholars have often demonstrated that courts in Canada have long been responsive to the political, social, cultural and economic contexts in which they operate. An illustration of the ways in which the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia embodied this role can be found in the Court's handling of a dispute between the Town of Dartmouth and the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Halifax, often referred to as the "Dartmouth Schools Question" in 1939 and 1940 The case concerned the attempt of the Town of Dartmouth, alone among municipalities in Nova Scotia, to collect local taxes on property used for Catholic …
Ghosts In The Court: Jonathan Belcher And The Proclamation Of 1762, Eric Adams
Ghosts In The Court: Jonathan Belcher And The Proclamation Of 1762, Eric Adams
Dalhousie Law Journal
History occupies a central place in aboriginal rights litigation. As a result, the circumstances and characters of the distant past play crucial roles in the adjudication of aboriginal treaty, rights and title claims. One such character is Jonathan Belcher. the first chief justice and former lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia. In 1762, Belcher issued a Proclamation reserving the north-eastern coast of Nova Scotia (and what Is now the eastern coast of New Brunswick) for the Mi'kmaq. In R. v Bernard, the accused pleaded a right to log timber on Crown land on the basis of Belcher's Proclamation. This article argues …
Designating The Dean Of Law: Legal Education At Mcgill University And The Montreal Corporate And Professional Elite, 1946-1950., A J. Hobbins
Dalhousie Law Journal
The nature of legal education has been the subject of an ongoing debate in all Canadian jurisdictions. A central theme of this debate for much of the twentieth century was whether legal education should be restricted to training for the local Bar as opposed to studying law as an academic discipline in addition to such professional training A decanal vacancy at McGill University brought this question to the fore in 1946 when the anglophone members of the Montreal Bar exerted a great deal of influence on the selection process. The matter was complicated by the opposition of the corporate elite …
Canadian Law Teachers In The 1930s: "When The World Was Turned Upside Down", Richard Risk
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, …
Brightening The Covenant Chain: Aboriginal Treaty Meanings In Law And History After Marshall, Mark D. Walters
Brightening The Covenant Chain: Aboriginal Treaty Meanings In Law And History After Marshall, Mark D. Walters
Dalhousie Law Journal
The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Marshall raises some difficult questions about the interpretation of Crown-Aboriginal treaties, especially treaties dating from the eighteenth century. The Court acknowledged that the treaty context is important to establishing the meaning of treaty texts, and Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal perspectives must be considered. As a result, judges must have regard to historical analyses of Crown-Aboriginal relations when interpreting these old treaties. In this article, the author explores some of the complex theoretical problems that such legal-historical analyses create, focusing in particular upon the possibility that lawyers and judges may reach …
Property Ownership By Married Women In Victorian Ontario, Susan Ingram, Kris Inwood
Property Ownership By Married Women In Victorian Ontario, Susan Ingram, Kris Inwood
Dalhousie Law Journal
This paper reports patterns of property holding by women and men in late nineteenth-century Ontario. We focus on the town of Guelph immediately before and after legislation in 1872 and 1884 which permitted married women to hold property in their own name. The female-held share of all property and the female share of all owners in the town increased sharply. The gains were made by married women, and even more strongly by single women and widows. However, there was little or no shift of property in nearby rural townships. We argue that an induced change in inheritance practice amplified the …
The Thousandth Man: A Biography Of James Mcgregor Stewart By Barry Cahill, Timothy C. Matthews
The Thousandth Man: A Biography Of James Mcgregor Stewart By Barry Cahill, Timothy C. Matthews
Dalhousie Law Journal
Barry Cahill, senior government archivist at Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, and former editor of the Nova Scotia Historical Review, has painstakingly delved into the social, political, educational and legal atmosphere of the late nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries in Nova Scotia, by researching and writing a fascinating biography of James McGregor Stewart, now published on behalf of the Osgoode Society. The book succeeds in portraying both the humanity of this Renaissance man and his pivotal role in so many different milieux, such that Canadian Lawyer could and would refer to him as the most …
Fostering Equity And Diversity In The Nova Scotia Legal Profession, Douglas G. Ruck, Craig M. Garson, Robert G. Mackeigan, Carol A. Aylward, Innis Christie, Cora States, Candy Palmater, Douglas Keefe, Margaret Macdonald, Burnley A. (Rocky) Jones, Heidi Marshall, Heather Mcneill, Kelvin Gilpin, Judith Ferguson
Fostering Equity And Diversity In The Nova Scotia Legal Profession, Douglas G. Ruck, Craig M. Garson, Robert G. Mackeigan, Carol A. Aylward, Innis Christie, Cora States, Candy Palmater, Douglas Keefe, Margaret Macdonald, Burnley A. (Rocky) Jones, Heidi Marshall, Heather Mcneill, Kelvin Gilpin, Judith Ferguson
Innis Christie Collection
The Province of Nova Scotia has, for many years, attempted, through a variety of means, to address issues of diversity and affirmative action. However, despite the lessons of history there are still those who question the need for programs and policies that promote, encourage and enforce equality. Even though significant advances have been made on many fronts Nova Scotia continues to struggle with issues of inequality. As with many problems faced by society acknowledging the existence of the problem is the first step towards developing solutions.
Egregious Inaction: Five Years After 'Of Life And Death', Jocelyn Downie
Egregious Inaction: Five Years After 'Of Life And Death', Jocelyn Downie
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
In November 1999, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology was authorized to examine and report upon developments since the release of Of Life and Death, the final report of the Special Senate Committee on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. A subcommittee to update Of Life and Death was therefore established. On February 14, 2000, I participated in the first panel of witnesses before this subcommittee. In light of the subcommittee's mandate, I set myself the following two tasks: first, to update the legal status sections of Of Life and Death by reporting on any changes to the …
The Course Of Law Cannot Be Stopped': The Aftermath Of The Cumberland Rebellion In The Civil Courts Of Nova Scotia, Jim Phillips, Ernest A. Clarke
The Course Of Law Cannot Be Stopped': The Aftermath Of The Cumberland Rebellion In The Civil Courts Of Nova Scotia, Jim Phillips, Ernest A. Clarke
Dalhousie Law Journal
This article examines a series of cases launched in the Nova Scotia courts following the Cumberland Rebellion of 1776. In these cases loyalists sued former rebels, including those granted amnesty by the authorities, for losses sustained during the rebellion. The article traces the history of the cases and places them in the context of post-rebellion government policy. It argues that such proceedings were without precedent and effectively took the place of official schemes of expropriation of rebel land and compensation to loyalists. It also suggests that the use of civil courts in this way prolonged and exacerbated the social and …
Collective Violence In Ferryland District, Newfoundland, 1788, Christopher English
Collective Violence In Ferryland District, Newfoundland, 1788, Christopher English
Dalhousie Law Journal
In September 1788 a court found 114 men guilty of riotous assembly in the district of Ferryland the previous winter. This event is remarkable for the number involved (45% of the adult male population of the district); for the number of charges (21% of all civil and criminal actions heard in the district's courts over the next 25 years); for the absence of damage to property; and for the severity of the sentences, which included loss of wages, flogging, transportation and banishment. These proceedings occurred in a community where *the majority (Irish planters, fishermen and apprentices) were socially distinct from …
Acquiring The Law: The Private Law Library Of William Young, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1835, William Laurence
Acquiring The Law: The Private Law Library Of William Young, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1835, William Laurence
Dalhousie Law Journal
In 1835, Halifax lawyer William Young, who would later become premier and chief justice of Nova Scotia, as well as a founder of Dalhousie Law School, compiled a catalogue of his personal law library. In the catalogue, Young identifiedthe short title, the price, and if applicable, the number of copies or volumes, for each item in his collection. Through an examination of Young's catalogue, as well as contemporary correspondence, journals, and business records, and, where identifiable, Young's former texts, this study discusses the nature, sources, and to a certain extent, the actual use of Young's law library. This study demonstrates …
Recent Challenges To The Protection Of Copyright In Literary Works: A Study Of Ghana And Canada, Josephine Asmah
Recent Challenges To The Protection Of Copyright In Literary Works: A Study Of Ghana And Canada, Josephine Asmah
LLM Theses
This work traces the historical development of the concept of copyright in literary works from the earliest forms of communication by human beings until the present day. By assessing the impact of implementing the recent international copyright agreements on literary works in Ghana, a developing country, and in Canada, a developed country, the work establishes that generally, the economies of developed countries are more suitable than those of developing countries to support a strengthened copyright regime. This is more so because the former have shorter transition periods in which to comply with the international copyright framework. The work also asserts …
Canadian State Trials, Vol. 1, Michael Boudreau
Canadian State Trials, Vol. 1, Michael Boudreau
Dalhousie Law Journal
In a letter to Deputy Judge Advocate Charles Gould, dated 10 April 1762, General Thomas Gage, Commander-in-Chief of British forces in North America, wrote with regard to the proceedings of the general courts martial in Montreal that "it is a Maxim held by all Civilians That no government can subsist without Law." Over half a century later in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland, William Elenes filed an affidavit with the Harbour Grace Sessions Court alleging that a group of men stole some potatoes from his house. "Late in March of [ 1817]," the statement read, "John McGrath with a gun and two …
Inside The Law: Canadian Law Firms In Historical Perspective, Douglas C. Harris
Inside The Law: Canadian Law Firms In Historical Perspective, Douglas C. Harris
Dalhousie Law Journal
This collection of essays edited by Carol Wilton' chronicles the changing character of Canadian law firms from the "golden age" of the sole practitioner in the nineteenth century to the mega-firms of the late twentieth. Most of the essays describe the changing profession through a case study of a single lawyer or firm, and Wilton has collected a representative sample of firms from across the country. Some of the firms remained small or disappeared, while others grew into full-service corporate commercial law firms of several hundred lawyers. Most of the essays focus on the personalities of the lawyers involved, their …