SSB 301 (formerly BC327).
Course Director: Ian Greene
124 McLaughlin, tel. 416-736-5128; email: igreene@yorku.ca
http://www.yorku.ca/igreene
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 1:45 - 2:45 p.m.; Fridays, 1:00 - 2:30
p.m., or by appointment
This course presents an overview of the literature related to judicial administration in Canada. The course begins with a study of judicial independence, the constitutional parameters of judicial administration, and court administrative structures. These topics provide the foundation for an in-depth review of current issues related to the administration of justice. In the final two weeks of the course, students will have an opportunity to present their own original research papers on a case study of their choosing.
This course is the core course for the Graduate Diploma in Justice System Administration.
Pre-/corequisites: It is recommended that students come to the course with a knowledge of Canadian government and politics, and the Canadian legal system.
Format: The class will meet weekly for a three-hour period to
analyze and discuss assigned readings. Students will be required to take
an active role in class discussion. This course is integrated with
AS/POLS 4600 3.0. POLS 5110 will meet for one additional hour, from
12:30 to 1:30.
Criminal Court Observation: Students are required to attend court
and to write a 2500-word analysis by Wednesday, Oct. 9. This analysis
should include observations on judicial independence and impartiality.
Major Paper: By September 25, each student must submit a detailed outline for a major paper. The outline will be graded and will be worth 10% of the course grade. The paper MUST BE COMPLETED BY DECEMBER 5. The paper should be a maximum of 30 pages (typed and double spaced). The paper must be on a subject relevant to judicial administration in Canada, and may not be on a subject which a student has written a paper on for another course without the permission of the course director.
Class Presentations: All students will be required to make short class presentations, and to lead a class discussion following the presentation. The presentation will be on the topic set for class discussion.
Students will also have an opportunity to present their major papers to the class during the last two weeks of the term.
Required Texts:
•Peter McCormick, Canada's Courts. Toronto: Lorimer, 1994.
•Martin L. Friedland, A Place Apart: Judicial Independence and Accountability in Canada. Ottawa: Canadian Judicial Council, 1995.
•A course kit has been prepared and is available for purchase at Copywell's Keele Copy Centre, 4699 Keele (416-665-9675). It includes relevant chapters from Perry Millar and Carl Baar, Judicial Administration in Canada (1982), which is now out of print.
The following book is also recommended:
•Ian Greene, Carl Baar, Peter McCormick, George Szablowski and Carl Baar, Final Appeal: Decision-Making in Canadian Courts of Appeal (Toronto: Lorimer, 1998).
Graduate students are also required to read Maureen Solomon and Douglas K. Somerlot, Caseflow Management in the Trial Court: Now and for the Future (Chicago: American Bar Association, 2000).
Other useful sources:
•F.L. Morton, Ed. Law, Politics and the Judicial Process in Canada
(Calgary: University of
Calgary Press, 2002).
•Peter Russell, The Judiciary in Canada: The Third Branch of
Government (Toronto:
McGraw-Hill, 1987) (Scott)
•Peter McCormick and Ian Greene, Judges and Judging (Toronto:
Lorimer, 1990)
Grading:
Major paper:
45%
Major paper outline:
5%
Criminal Court Observation: 25%
Class presentations:
15%
Class participation:
10%
100%
Schedule of class topics
Required readings are marked with an asterisk.
Sept. 11: Purpose & organization of course; the purposes of courts
•Greene et al., Ch. 1
Sept. 18: Judicial
Independence & Judicial Administration
*•Millar and Baar, Ch. 1 & 2 [kit]
*•McCormick, Ch. 1 & 8
*•Friedland, Ch. 1 & 4.
Sept 25: Judicial Recruitment & Discipline
*•McCormick, Ch. 2 & 7
*•F.L. Morton, Law, Politics and the Judicial Process in Canada,
2nd Ed. (Calgary: U of C Press, 1992), Chapter 5, “Judicial
Independence, Ethics, and Discipline.” [kit]
*•Friedland, Ch. 5 & 11
•Greene et al., Ch. 2
For graduate discussion: Ontario Mnistry of the Attorney General,
"Ontario Legal Aid Review" http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/html/OLAR/olarcvr.htm
MAJOR PAPER OUTLINE DUE
Oct. 2: The Courts and Judicial Power
*•Millar & Baar, Ch. 3 & 4 [kit]
*•Friedland, Ch. 2 & 3
*•Headnotes from Reference re Remuneration of Provincial Court
Judges
[1997 3 SCR 3], which can be retrieved from the SCC decisions
web site: http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/csc-scc/en/
For graduate discussion: Carl Baar, "Criminal Court Delay and the Charter: The Use and Misuse of Social Facts in Judicial Policy-Making." 72 The Canadian Bar Review 305.
Oct. 9: Courts CRIMINAL COURT OBSERVATION DUE
Trial Courts
*•McCormick, Courts, Ch. 4
*•Peter McCormick and Ian Greene, Ch. 4, “Adapting to the Judicial
Role,” and Ch. 5, “Judicial decision-making: trial courts, in Judges and
Judging: Inside the Canadian Judicial System (Toronto: Lorimer, 1990).
[kit]
Appeal Courts
*•McCormick, Courts, Ch. 5 & 6
*•Friedland, Ch. 10
•Greene et al, Chapters 4 & 5
For graduate discussion: Carl Baar, "One Trial Court: Possibilities
and Limitations" A report prepared for the Council in November 1991, soft
cover, 127 pages. (Available at no charge from the Council office).
Oct. 16: General issues in judicial administration
*•Millar & Baar, Ch. 5. [kit]
*•McCormick, Courts, Ch. 11
*•Friedland, Ch. 6-8
•Greene et al., Ch. 3 & 8
For graduate discussion: Thomas Church Jr, et al., Justice Delayed: The Pace of Litigation in Urban Trial Courts, Executive Summary (Williamsburg, Va.: National Center for State Courts, 1978).
Oct. 23: Administering the Courts
*•Millar & Baar, Ch. 6 & 7 [kit]
*•Friedland, Ch. 9.
*•Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, "Evaluation Reports
for the Mandatory Mediation Rule Pilot Project," http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/html/MANMED/pilotproject.htm
For graduate discussion: Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, "Report of the Kaufman Commission on Proceedings Involving Guy Paul Morin," http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/html/MORIN/morin.htm
Oct. 30: Caseflow Management
*•Millar & Baar, Ch. 8
*•John Twohig, Carl Baar, Anna Myers and Anne Marie Predko, “Empirical
Analyses of Civil Cases Commended and Cases Tried in Toronto 1973-1994,
in Ontario Law Reform Commission, Rethinking Civil Justice: Research Studies
for the Civil Justice Review, Vol. I (Toronto: Ontario Law Reform Commission,
1996), 77-147. [kit]
*•Justice Robert A. Blair and Sandra Lang, “Conclusion,” First
Report, Ontario Civil Justice Review (392-407), and “Closing Comments,”
Justice Robert A. Blair and Heather Cooper, Ontario Civil Justice Review:
Supplemental and Final Report, 154-158, Ontario: Ministry of the Attorney
General, 1995 and 1996. [kit]
For graduate discussion: Maureen Solomon and Douglas K. Somerlot, Caseflow Management in the Trial Court: Now and for the Future (Chicago: American Bar Association, 2000).
Nov. 6: Technology & Justice
*•Carl Baar, “Integrated Justice: privatizing the fundamentals,”
42 Canadian Public Administration, 42-68. [kit]
*•Michael Jordan, “Ontario’s Integrated Justice Project: profile
of a complex partnership agreement” 42 Canadian Public Administration,
26-41. [kit]
*•Robin Rose, “Evaluating the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics,”
in Julian V. Roberts and Joe Hudson, Eds., Evaluating Justice: Canadian
policies and programs (Toronto: Thompson, 1993), 19-34. [kit]
For graduate discussion: Solomon and Somerlot, continued.
Nov 13: The Future of Court Reform
*•Friedland, Ch. 12
*•McCormick, Ch. 12
•Millar and Baar, "Judicial Administration and Social
Change," Ch's 12-13 of Judicial Administration in Canada.
For graduate discussion: Ian Greene, “The Zuber Report and Court Management.” 8 (1988) Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice, 150.
Nov 20 & 27: Student Presentations