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The Comprehension of “Composition”
Parliament cannot require Supreme Court judges to be bilingual Sébastien Grammond has published a guest-post over at Administrative Law Matters arguing that Parliament could legislate to prohibit the appointment of Supreme Court judges who are not bilingual. It is a bold and interesting argument, and I greatly admire prof. Grammond as a thinker and advocate. Nonetheless,
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Bullshit in Sentencing
An ostensibly minimalist, and an unsatisfactory, decision from the Supreme Court In R. v. Safarzadeh-Markhali, 2016 SCC 14, decided last month, the Supreme Court stuck down a provision of the Criminal Code that prevented sentencing judges from crediting more than the time the offender actually served in pre-trial detention against the sentence imposed when the offender had been
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Originalism ― The Talk
My remarks on originalism in Canada at the Courts and Politics workshop Yesterday, I spoke about the place of originalism in Canadian constitutional jurisprudence at the Courts and Politics workshop that Kate Puddister and Emmett Macfarlane had convened at the University of Guelph. The whole things was a lot of fun and very educational, not
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Some News
An update about my studies, work prospects, and an upcoming conference I have been very silent, of late, and will probably remain so for another week. That’s because in the space of just over five weeks, from late March to this coming Thursday, I’ll have given two talks, moderated a conference panel, defended my JSD
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All That History
A historicist, if not quite an originalist, decision from the Supreme Court of Canada Last week, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Daniels v. Canada (Indian Affairs and Northern Development), 2016 SCC 12, holding that Métis and non-status Indians fall within the scope of Parliament’s legislative power over “Indians” provided for in section 91(24) of
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State v. Conscience
Freedom of conscience, state authority, and the case of the citizenship oath As I had already mentioned, last week I spoke at a discussion on freedom of conscience that the Runnymede Society organized at McGill on Tuesday. It was a lot of fun, and as always at McGill there were some great questions from the
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A Fourth Cheer
My thanks to my readers on the blog’s fourth birthday Yesterday, this blog turned four. Its fourth year has, I am afraid, been marked by occasional periods of extended silence, as was trying to finish my dissertation. Still, I have managed to come back every time, and to keep going. I have also got some
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Events Next Week
I’ll be visiting McGill and Yale next week. Come say hello! Next Tuesday, the 29th, I’ll be taking part in a discussion on “Conscience and the Constitution in Canada” at the McGill Faculty of Law (specifically, in NCDH 101). I will be speaking on the conflict between freedom of conscience and state authority, in particular as
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Permanent Problems
The law’s ideals and problems have not changed too much in 400 years I have only now read Francis Bacon’s essay “Of Judicature.” Bacon seems not to enjoy anything like the reputation of his rival Coke, in the law schools anyway ― I suspect that they haven’t heard much of Coke in the science faculties,
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Originalism in Canada
A couple of papers about originalism, and a call for comments As promised in my last post, I have something to show for my silence in the last few weeks. Benjamin Oliphant and I have been working very intensively on a study of originalism in Canadian constitutional law. In a nutshell, we argue that, contrary
Double Aspect 