-
Declarations of Unconstitutionality as Judgments In Rem: A Response to Professor Daly
This post is written by Marc-Antoine Gervais, and a larger paper on the subject will appear in the McGill Law Journal (vol. 66). Canada’s model of judicial review of legislation is unusual. On the one hand, it is “diffuse” in that all courts of law (and many administrative tribunals) may decide constitutional questions. On the…
-
Guest Post: Marc-Antoine Gervais
It is my pleasure to announce a guest post today by Marc-Antoine Gervais, on the subject of declarations of invalidity as in rem judgments. The post is a response to Paul Daly’s recent post on declarations of invalidity in the aftermath of the Sullivan decision. Marc-Antoine has a larger paper coming out in the McGill…
-
Textualism for Hedgehogs
Why substantive canons belong in textualist interpretation, and what this tells us about neutral interpretive principles
-
Neutrality in Legal Interpretation
Nowadays, it is unfashionable to say that legal rules, particularly rules of interpretation, should be “neutral.” Quite the opposite: now it is more fashionable to say that results in cases depend on the “politics” of a court on a particular day. Against this modern trend, not so long ago, it was Herbert Wechsler in his…
-
Still Keeping It Complicated
The Supreme Court tries to bring more rigour to constitutional interpretation and takes a step towards textualism, but won’t admit it
-
You Read It Here First
The Supreme Court holds that the Charter does not protect corporations against cruel and unusual punishment
-
Activism v Constitution
The federal court rightly holds that the judiciary cannot control Canada’s climate policy
-
Linguistic Nihilism
One common line of attack against textualism—the idea that “the words of a governing text are of paramount concern, and what they convey, in their context, is what the text means (Scalia & Garner, at 56)—is that language is never clear, or put differently, hopelessly vague or ambiguous. Put this way, the task of interpretation…
-
Let Us Reason Together
A call for dialogue on constitutional interpretation, free from anti-originalist myths
-
A Proclivity for Plunder
The left and the right are united in wanting to regulate the internet by taking from their enemies and giving to their friends
Double Aspect 