Double Aspect

This is an unusual post, but perhaps it will be a useful resource to some readers. I have had occasion to compile a list of publications on constitutional interpretation in Canada in the last 10 years or so. It is pretty extensive, showing just how much this subject, once — I think it is not unfair to say this — something of an intellectual backwater, is now the topic of a lively discussion. At the same time, I suspect there are still scholars wedded to the old idea that either the “living tree” or purposivism, or perhaps some combination of the two, tells us all there is to know. So I thought it might be worth sharing what I have come up with, to illustrate the importance of the subject and perhaps to save some time to anyone interested in contributing to the conversation.

The list that follows is in chronological order and is meant to be fairly complete, though of course deciding which papers are sufficiently “about” constitutional interpretation in Canada to include is a pretty subjective exercise. In particular, I have focused on pieces that go beyond the interpretatio of a single provision or a group of closely related provisions and make a broader point about interpreting the constitution as a whole — but of course that is a pretty subjective judgment. And it is certainly possible that I have missed something, so if you think I have, please let me know!

• Asher Honickman, “The Living Fiction: Reclaiming Originalism for Canada” (2014) 43:3 Adv Q 329
• Benjamin J Oliphant, “Taking Purposes Seriously: The Purposive Scope and Textual Bounds of Interpretation Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms” (2015) 65:3 UTLJ 239
• Kerri A Froc, “Is Originalism Bad for Women? The Curious Case of Canada’s ‘Equal Rights Amendment’” (2015) 19:2 Rev Const Stud 237
• J Gareth Morley, “Dead Hands, Living Trees, Historic Compromises: The Senate Reform and Supreme Court Act References Brings the Originalism Debate to Canada” (2016) 53:3 Osgoode Hall LJ 745
• Sébastien Grammond, “Compact is Back: The Revival of the Compact Theory of Confederation by the Supreme Court of Canada” (2016) 53:3 Osgoode Hall L J 799
• Benjamin J Oliphant & Leonid Sirota, “Has the Supreme Court of Canada Rejected ‘Originalism’?” (2016) 42:1 Queen’s LJ 107
• Jeffrey Goldsworthy & The Honourable Grant Huscroft, “Originalism in Australia and Canada: Why the Divergence?” in Richard Albert & David R Cameron, eds, Canada in the World: Comparative Perspectives on the Canadian Constitution (CUP, 2017)
• Noura Karazivan, “Constitutional Structure and Original Intent: A Canadian Perspective” (2017) 2017:2 U Ill L Rev 629
• Stéphane Beaulac, “Constitutional Interpretation: On Issues of Ontology and of Interlegality” in Peter Oliver, Patrick Macklem, & Nathalie Des Rosiers, eds, The Oxford Handbook of the Canadian Constitution (OUP, 2017) 867
• Leonid Sirota & Benjamin J Oliphant, “Originalist Reasoning in Canadian Constitution Jurisprudence”, (2017) 50:2 UBC L Rev 505
• Benjamin J Oliphant, “Bobbitt’s Paradise: Canadian Constitutional Interpretation and Public Meaning Originalism” (2017) 31:3 Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo Online 617
• Leonid Sirota, “More v Roper: A Comment on Lawrence Solum’s Defence of Originalism” (2017) 31:3 Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo Online 635
• Malcolm Lavoie, “R. v. Comeau and Section 121 of the Constitution Act, 1867: Freeing the Beer and Fortifying the Economic Union” (2017) 40:1 Dalhousie Law Journal 189
• Asher Honickman, “Watertight Compartments: Getting Back to the Constitutional Division of Powers” (2017) 55:1 Alberta L Rev 255
• Kerri A Froc & Michael Marin,“The Supreme Court’s Strange Brew: History, Federalism and Anti-Originalism in Comeau” (2019) 70 UNBLJ 297
• Asher Honickman, “The Original Living Tree” (2019) 28:1 Const Forum Const 29
• The Honourable Bradley W Miller, “Constitutional Supremacy and Judicial Reasoning” (2020) 45:2 Queen’s LJ 353
• Wilfred J Waluchow, “The Living Tree, Very Much Alive and Still Bearing Fruit: A Reply to the Honourable Bradley W Miller” (2021) 46:2 Queen’s LJ 281
• Leonid Sirota, “Purposivism, Textualism, and Originalism in Recent Cases on Charter Interpretation” (2021) 47:1 Queen’s LJ 78
• Colin Feasby, “The Evolving Approach to Charter Interpretation” (2022) 60:1 Alberta L Rev 35
• Peter C Oliver, “Eduring Metaphors: The Persons Case and the Living Tree” (2022) 48:1 Queen’s LJ 44
• Vanessa MacDonnell, “The Enduring Wisdom of the Purposive Approach to Charter Interpretation” in Kerri Froc, Howard Kislowicz & Richard Moon, eds, The Surprising Constitution (UBC Press, 2023)
• Jacob Weinrib, “What Is Purposive Interpretation” (2024) 74 UTLJ 74
• Jérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly, “Contributions civilistes à l’interprétation des lois constitutionnelles canadiennes” (2025) 70:2 McGill LJ 203
• Preston Jordan Lim, “The Great Depression and Canada’s Major Originalist Decade”, OHLJ (forthcoming) (available on SSRN)
• Leonid Sirota, “Originalism, Eh?” (2025) JOTWELL