The boundaries of meaning and the formation of law

Different legal systems share some basic developmental tendencies that are rooted in the historical evolution of language and culture. In this comparative history of English common law, Islamic law, and Chinese imperialist law Sharron Gu describes the formation of three diverse legal systems in t...

Fiscal federalism in multinational states

Fiscal Federalism in Multinational States brings together scholars of nationalism and federalism in a groundbreaking analysis of the connections between nationalist claims and fiscal debates within plurinational states.

Sécurité humaine et nouvelle diplomatie

With civilians around the world increasingly at risk from virulent internal conflicts within states, traditional foreign policy instruments have often failed to prevent violence, to protect civilians when conflict breaks out, or to encourage the rebuilding of war-torn societies. The human securit...

Justice in paradise

As a newsmaker, Bruce Clark is infamous - not for his discussions of the finer points of the law in relation to Aboriginal rights but for being dragged away by the police at the Native standoff at Gustafsen Lake, British Columbia. Now he is challenging the United States' ownership of Liberty Isla...

Implied consent and sexual assault

Revisiting the doctrine of implied consent in Canadian sexual assault law.

Power without law

A close look at the momentous Marshall decision and how the Supreme Court got it wrong.

No place for fairness

Examining the Bear Island land claim case as a benchmark in Aboriginal land rights and land policy.

Not quite supreme

A critique of the Supreme Court of Canada's power and a defence of Parliament's role in constitutional interpretation.

The drug solution

This provocative volume makes a valuable contribution to debates on drug legislation. It is the only book that analyses and assesses all regulatory alternatives to drug prohibition. The author brings together research from the scientific, medical, ethical and legal fields to criticize drug laws a...

The challenge of arctic shipping

The Challenge of Arctic Shipping presents a collection of candid essays on the future of Arctic waters. A number of distinguished contributors address critical issues in Arctic development examining the implications for both policy-making in the North and the impact of that policy on native peopl...

The metaphysics of scientific realism

A defining work on the scientific chacterization of reality.

Determining boundaries in a conflicted world

In 1992, when Yugoslavia was on the point of disintegration, the Badinter Commission recommended that the issue of its boundaries be resolved according to the principle of uti possidetis: the internal boundaries dividing the former Yugoslav Republics should automatically become the international ...

The catholicisms of coutances

How religious belief and practice shaped daily life in early modern France.

The word of the law

Nuremberg forty years later

An international human rights conference held in Montreal in 1987 marked the fortieth anniversary of the Nuremberg trials; this collection of its papers and proceedings invites the reader to share in stimulating discussions by some of the leading human rights scholars and advocates of our day.

Rethinking homicide

Rethinking Homicide offers a compelling argument for constitutionally restructuring homicide law in Canada and explores how Parliament may be compelled to respond to a new wave of constitutional challenges.

Disarmament under international law

An introduction to the regulation of both conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction in international disarmament law.

The unbounded level of the mind

Essays honouring one of Canada’s most brilliant legal minds.

Autonomous weapons systems and international norms

In Autonomous Weapons Systems and International Norms Ingvild Bode and Hendrik Huelss present an innovative analysis of how testing, developing, and using weapons systems with autonomous features shapes ethical and legal norms, arguing that they have already established standards for what counts ...

Canadian justice, indigenous injustice

In Canadian Justice, Indigenous Injustice Kent Roach critically reconstructs the Gerald Stanley/Colten Boushie case to examine how it may be a miscarriage of justice. Drawing on both trial transcripts and research on miscarriages of justice, Roach provides historical, legal, political, and sociol...

Canada and the international seabed

Canada and the International Seabed is the first in-depth study of the development of Canada's policy on deep seabed mining. Elizabeth Riddell-Dixon argues that Canada's position was determined by certain influential actors in the federal government. Lawyers in the Department of External Affairs ...

Judging obscenity

In Judging Obscenity Christopher Nowlin examines expert evidence in North American obscenity trials and reveals how little consensus there is among those who purport to know best about the nature of artistic representation, human sexuality, and the psychological and behavioral effects of reading,...

Putting trials on trial

Less than one percent of the sexual assaults that occur each year in Canada result in legal sanction for those who commit these offences. Survivors often distrust and fear the criminal justice process, and as a result, over ninety percent of sexual assaults go unreported. In pursuit of trial prac...

The limits of common humanity

The Limits of Common Humanity provides an interdisciplinary response to theorise the role of “humanity” as a motivational concept. Jarvis examines the creation and mission of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) concept, highlighting the challenges that have restricted its application in practice.

Federalism and the charter

This extensive revision of the landmark Leading Constitutional Decisions brings together recent Charter cases with the classical cases on the Canadian Constitution. An introductory essay traces the evolution and distinctive features of judicial review in Canada and includes references to the Cons...

Cyber-threats to canadian democracy

Scrutinizing the events of the 2019 federal election and looking to the future, Cyber-Threats to Canadian Democracy examines how new technologies have affected the practice of electoral politics and what we can do to strengthen Canadian democracy, shedding light on some of the most contentious is...

Illegitimate justice

Drawing from extensive primary research in Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, and Kenya, Izabela Steflja shows that the stories locals tell about international courts differ radically from those told by the international community.

Inclusive equality

An innovative work that outlines new ways to think about equality and law.

Disputing new france

Challenging the traditional narrative of an orderly establishment of law, sovereignty, and authority in the colony, Disputing New France reveals how negotiations and contestations among a range of actors actively shaped empire building, offering readers an intertwined history of French state form...

Is our house in order?

Does Canada abide by its international agreements?

Braiding legal orders

An examination of international, Indigenous, and Canadian constitutional law relating to the implementation of UNDRIP in Canada by leading Indigenous legal scholars and policy leaders.

Narrating transitional justice

Narrating Transitional Justice asks: what are the discourses embedded in the varied stories of reconciliation actors, and how do these function as acts of state-making after atrocity?

Truth commissions and state building

Truth Commissions and State Building demonstrates that the work of both institutions is interlinked and intrinsic to reform in post-conflict and post-authoritarian settings. Chapters examine truth commissions as transitional justice mechanisms for civic inclusion, identity formation, institutiona...

The notwithstanding clause and the canadian charter

The significance, effects, and legitimacy of Section 33 of the Charter have been vigorously debated. The Notwithstanding Clause and the Canadian Charter examines the NWC from all perspectives, asking who should have the last word on matters of rights and justice – the legislatures or the judiciar...

Corporate law and sustainability from the next generation of lawyers

Climate change is an intergenerational crisis and the solutions and path forward must include intergenerational voices. This book offers timeless research from a diverse group of young lawyers calling for bona fide corporate accountability within legal and regulatory frameworks, including innovat...

Cities and the constitution

Canadian municipalities oversee the country’s most urgent policy areas, yet the constitutional authority of cities to manage their increasing obligations has not kept pace. This volume considers how policy, law, and the constitution can be reimagined to resolve the mismatch between powers and res...

The past, present, and future of canadian cities

The Past, Present, and Future of Canadian Cities explores the historical functions of municipalities, their current ability to tackle major problems, and how to unlock the potential of cities to help Canada seize the future.

The past, present, and promise of the peace and friendship treaties

Forged in respect and peace, but later abrogated by the British, the Peace and Friendship Treaties bound nations as equals. This powerful collection argues that the treaties are still alive and are foundational to any just relationship between Indigenous and settler peoples.

Portable prisons

Portable Prisons is an exploration of the electronic monitoring of offenders based on an ethnographic case study from Scotland. Through interviews and observations, Gacek demonstrates this technology is representative of the carceral state’s overreaching punitive capabilities, rejecting the idea ...

A written constitution for quebec?

No province in Canada has codified a written constitution. A Written Constitution for Québec? enters into the debate of whether Quebec should be the first. Taking a doctrinal, historical, theoretical and comparative approach, and addressing the issue from a variety of perspectives, this volume is...

Voluntary and forced migration in latin america

Voluntary and Forced Migration in Latin America provides a unique comparative analysis of the migration legislations of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Mexico, thoroughly interrogating the national and regional mechanisms that facilitate both voluntary and forced migration,...

Chief justice w.r. jackett

Wilbur Roy Jackett, born in a small town in Saskatchewan in 1914, is inextricably connected to some of the most important developments in Canadian legal history. As a scholar, public servant, and jurist, he was a leading figure in Canadian law, serving during the governments of Mackenzie King, St...

Frontline justice

A thought-provoking and balanced analysis, Frontline Justice seeks to remedy some of the more unfair and arcane proceedings of the Canadian military's summary trial system. Addressing important gaps in legal literature, Pascal Lévesque sets out to examine summary justice in Canada's military and ...

Putting the charter to work

The entrenchment of a Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the Canadian constitution raises a host of fundamental issues, both theoretical and practical. As the American experience makes abundantly clear, expanding the focus of judicial review means that the symbiosis between law and politics will b...

The theory and history of ocean boundary-making

In the classical and neo-classical periods of international law, the law of the sea was chiefly concerned with the need to facilitate the movement of ships. In the post-World War II period, however, coastal states began to make juridictional claims to extensive areas of the ocean, requiring decis...

Gangs and girls

Gangs and Girls is the first major piece of qualitative research specifically aimed at understanding and analyzing the involvement of street gangs in female juvenile prostitution. Organized around a number of direct central questions, Michel Dorais and Patrice Corriveau document how street gangs ...

Against judicial activism

The Charter and expansive versions of the federal and provincial human rights codes were supposed to safeguard the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Canadians. Rory Leishman argues that this experiment in radical constitutional reform has failed because judicial activists and human rights ...

Reconciliation(s)

The transformation of conflict and postconflict societies through transitional justice is now recognized as vital to the process of peacebuilding, with mechanisms such as trials, truth commissions, and apologies seen as essential for effecting societal change. It is widely argued that "reconcili...

Common sense and legal judgment

An analysis of the surprisingly inscrutable idea of “common sense” and its relationship to reflective and accountable legal judgment.

Law, policy, and international justice

Law, Policy, and International Justice is a collection of essays published in honour of Judge Maxwell Cohen. As a law professor, dean, and scholar, and through domestic and international public service, Cohen has played an important part in determining the direction of the law and legal instituti...

A nation's navy

Bounded by three great oceans, Canada stands as a maritime nation with rich seafaring traditions. Born of both national and British imperial interests in 1910 and maturing in two world wars, its navy is a vital national institution that continues to evolve in response to new and complex challenge...

Bringing power to justice?

The world's first permanent international criminal tribunal for the prosecution and punishment of the world's most serious crimes was created in 2002. In Bringing Power to Justice? legal scholars, political scientists, and political philosophers respond to fundamental questions about the future o...

Best left as indians

Barely a hundred and fifty years have passed since the first white people arrived at the upper Yukon River basin. During this time many non-Natives have come and gone and some have stayed. Ken Coates examines the interaction between Native people and whit

Risk, science, and politics

Government regulation of toxic substances in Canada and the United States is examined and compared in Risk, Science, and Politics. Kathryn Harrison and George Hoberg report dramatically different approaches to regulatory science in the two countries.

The daunting enterprise of the law

Reconsidering the law through the work of a pre-eminent scholar.

Canadian constitutional dilemmas revisited

A collection of essays in honour of the late William R. Lederman, Canadian Constitutional Dilemmas Revisited reflects on issues and dilemmas that have arisen, and continue to arise, in Canadian constitutional debates. The essays address distribution and separation of powers, judicial independence...

Empty promises

Why a voluntary, employer-based pension system does not deliver adequate and secure retirement income for most Canadians.

Limiting rights

Limiting Rights is an in-depth exploration of who is, and who should be, responsible for determining whether legislation that conflicts with the entrenched rights of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms should nevertheless be upheld as a reasonable limit on protected rights. Janet Hiebert addresses...

Rites of privacy and the privacy trade

Technological advances have made the right to privacy an important issue. Most discussions of privacy focus largely on methods and standards for the protection of specific privacy rights. In contrast, Elizabeth Neill addresses the need to re-evaluate what it means for us to possess a right to pri...

Constitutional predicament

This collection of essays by prominent Canadian political scientists and philosophers examines why the Charlottetown Accord failed to resolve Canada's constitutional problems and explains the design and fate of the accord as reflected in the theories and political forces that framed it.

The chrétien legacy

Assessing the legacy of Canada's twentieth prime minister.

Law, ideology, and collegiality

In a ground-breaking study on the nature of judicial behaviour in the Supreme Court of Canada, Donald Songer, Susan Johnson, C.L. Ostberg, and Matthew Wetstein use three specific research strategies to consider the ways in which justices seek to make decisions grounded in "good law" and to show h...