Rule of Law

October 27, 2014

Unintended Consequences?

When I commented on the oral arguments in Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia v. British Columbia (Attorney General), 2014 SCC 59, the B.C. hearing fees case, I argued that although there was a good deal of support among the various parties and interveners for the proposition that it was section 96 of the Constitution Act, 1867,… Continue reading

Constitutional law, The Justice System

access to justice, arbitration, choice of forum, hearing fees, Rule of Law, state action, unintended consequences
October 2, 2014

Neither Here Nor There

I have summarized the Supreme Court’s decision in Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia v. British Columbia (Attorney General), 2014 SCC 59, the B.C. hearing fees case, here. Over a furious dissent by Justice Rothstein, the Court held that while provinces can impose some hearing fees, the fees cannot constitutionally result in “undue hardship” on litigants, preventing them… Continue reading

Constitutional law, The Justice System

access to justice, democracy, hearing fees, political ignorance, Rule of Law, underlying principles
October 2, 2014

For Sale, at the Right Price

This morning, the Supreme Court of Canada has released its judgment in Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia v. British Columbia (Attorney General), 2014 SCC 59, the B.C. hearing fees case. A five-judge majority led by the Chief Justice holds that although a province can, in principle, impose some form of fees for access to courts,… Continue reading

Constitutional law, The Justice System

access to justice, hearing fees, inherent jurisdiction, Rule of Law, underlying principles
May 5, 2014

Constitutional Amendment and the Law

I have been a bit harsh on the Supreme Court in my first post on its opinion in the Reference re Senate Reform, 2014 SCC 32, saying that it had reduced the constitutional text to the status of a façade, which hid as much as it revealed of the real constitutional architecture, which only the… Continue reading

Constitutional law, Legal philosophy

constitutional amendment, Fuller, Rule of Law, Senate reform, Supreme Court of Canada
April 21, 2014

A Puff of Smoke

I argued last week that the Supreme Court should find British Columbia’s “hearing fees,” which litigants must pay to bring a case in front of a judge, unconstitutional as a violation of the principle of the Rule of Law. But what about the Supreme Court’s decision in British Columbia v. Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., 2005 SCC… Continue reading

Constitutional law, The Justice System

access to justice, courts, hearing fees, Rule of Law, underlying principles
April 16, 2014

Which Way to Court?

I wrote yesterday about the oral argument which the Supreme Court heard on Monday in the case now known as Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia v. British Columbia (Attorney General), formerly Villardell v. Dunham. At issue is the constitutionality of the “hearing fees” which British Columbia requires a litigant setting a civil case down for… Continue reading

Constitutional law, The Justice System

access to justice, courts, hearing fees, Rule of Law, underlying principles
April 15, 2014

Who Pays for Justice?

Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard the oral arguments in the B.C. hearing fees case, now known as Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia v. British Columbia (Attorney General), a case I have much blogged about as it made its way through the B.C. courts (where it was known Villardell v. Dunham, both on trial and… Continue reading

Constitutional law, The Justice System

access to justice, Charter, courts, hearing fees, Rule of Law, underlying principles
March 13, 2014

Reticence and Power

The Supreme Court of Canada is in the habit of “suspending” its declarations of unconstitutionality of legislation, especially controversial or important legislation, ostensibly in order to give the legislature which enacted the statute at issue time to re-write it so as to remove the constitutional defect while preserving as much of the substance of the… Continue reading

Constitutional law, Constitutional Theory

Bedford, Charter, judicial review, remedies, Rule of Law, suspended declaration of unconstitutionality
November 8, 2013

Bad Poetry

“A statute is written to entrap meaning, a poem to escape it.” So writes Hillary Mantel in Bring Up the Bodies. That’s true ― normally. But some statutes are in fact written to escape meaning rather than to capture it. They are usually bad statutes, and often bad poetry. What was first mooted as the… Continue reading

Law and Religion, Literature

Charte de la honte, laïcité, legislation, politcs, Québec, Rule of Law, secularism
October 26, 2013

Storm and Havoc

Time for more shameless self-promotion, after my rant on Thursday about not being cited by the Québec Court of Appeal. A paper of mine, called “Storm and Havoc: The Rule of Law and Religious Exemptions,” is coming out any time now in the Revue Juridique Thémis de l’Université de Montréal, a mere three years after… Continue reading

Constitutional Theory, Law and Religion, Legal philosophy

Charter, laïcité, Québec, religion, religious exemptions, Rule of Law, secularism