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.

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 two-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 GS/POLS 5110 3.0.
 
Criminal Court Observation:  Students are required to attend court and to write a 2500-word analysis by Wednesday, Oct. 9.

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:         10%
Criminal Court Observation:  20%
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

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/

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
 

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

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

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]

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]

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.

Nov 20 & 27: Student Presentations