judicial power
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Still Not a Conservative
A couple of comments on Chief Justice Joyal’s Runnymede Radio podcast Continue reading
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Dreaming of Dialogue
Can New Zealand courts declare statutes to be inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act? Does this matter? Continue reading
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Why I am Not a Conservative Either
Thoughts on Chief Justice Joyal’s very interesting speech on the Charter and Canada’s political culture Continue reading
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Says Who, Again?
Peter McCormick on why “by the Court” decisions matter – and who wrote them. Continue reading
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Abusus Non Tollit Usum
Should judges refrain from accusing their colleagues of acting illegitimately? Continue reading
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Sub Lege
I often criticize judges, on this blog and elsewhere. I think it is very important that people who exercise power over citizens be subject to criticism whenever they exercise it unwisely or, worse, recklessly, and still more when they abuse or overstep the powers given them. While the media can, more or less, be counted Continue reading
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A Judge Unbound
The Prime Minister has at last named his choice to fill the vacancy left on the Supreme Court by the retirement of Justice Thomas Cromwell. It is Justice Malcolm Rowe, now at the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal. For all the concern ― of the Prime Minister’s and his government’s own making ― about whether Continue reading
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Why Do the Write Thing?
Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Andrew Butler, both of them former legal academics and current barristers, Sir Geoffrey having also served as Attorney-General and Prime Minister in between, are about to publish a book advocating that New Zealand enact a “written” constitution. They have also set up a Twitter account and a website to both promote the book and Continue reading
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Someone’s Got to Do It
Was the Supreme Court right to change the law on the right to a speedy trial? In my last post, I summarized the Supreme Court’s decision in R. v. Jordan, 2016 SCC 27, in which the Court, by a 5-4 majority and over the vigorous disagreement of the concurrence, held that criminals prosecutions in which a Continue reading
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A Voice of Moderation?
Thoughts on the Chief Justice’s Speech on “Democracy and the Judiciary” Her court might not be very busy ― it had decided only 19 cases this year through May 31, the lowest number this century ― but Chief Justice McLachlin certainly is. Another Friday, another speech. After the one she gave at the Université de Montréal‘s Continue reading
Double Aspect 