Editor's Note: We are introducing a new feature at TheCourt.ca called "TheCourt's Docket". Published on a biweekly basis, the feature is intended to recap and relink to all posts published during the two weeks previous, hopefully providing a neat and innovative way to review our content. We also hope that TheCourt's Docket may help revive […]
The Tucson Tragedy On Saturday, January 8, the United States was rocked by gun violence as twenty people were shot at a political event occurring outside a grocery store in Tucson, Arizona. Of the twenty who were shot, six – including chief judge of the U.S. District Court for Arizona, John Roll – died. The […]
Over the holidays, in a series of concurrently released decisions, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") considered how a citizen could sue the Crown to financially recover on a wrong committed by an administrative decision maker. The question before the Court was whether one may bring the action directly, or did the lawfulness of the […]
To mark the looming onslaught of bills from holiday expenses, it is fitting, albeit in somewhat of a sadistic way, to discuss the Supreme Court of Canada's ("SCC") most recent pronouncements in the field of insolvency law. On December 16, 2010 the SCC released its decision in Century Services Inc v Canada (Attorney General), 2010 SCC […]
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part series on the recent judgments the Ontario Court of Appeal handed down addressing the post-9/11 terrorism laws. Just before recessing for the holidays, the Ontario Court of Appeal ("ONCA") gave supporters of a “tough-on-crime” policy an early Christmas present. In a string of six decisions released on […]
In 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") seemed to suggest that the utility of interjurisdictional immunity had been nearly exhausted. Justices Binnie and LeBel, in Canadian Western Bank v Alberta, [2007] 2 SCR 3, made reference to the doctrine’s asymmetrical application, propensity to create legal vacuums, and general superfluity. These are not trivial concerns. The court […]
Politicians may try to claim otherwise, but federalism rarely concerns life and death. Every so often, however, a division of powers dispute arises that has considerable public policy implications. On December 22, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") issued a divided 4-4-1 opinion in Reference re Assisted Human Reproduction Act, 2010 SCC 61, which struck […]