Bora Laskin

Bora Laskin
Author: Philip Girard
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 673
Release: 2015-01-15
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1442616881

In any account of twentieth-century Canadian law, Bora Laskin (1912-1984) looms large. Born in northern Ontario to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Laskin became a prominent human rights activist, university professor, and labour arbitrator before embarking on his 'accidental career' as a judge on the Ontario Court of Appeal (1965) and later Chief Justice of Canada (1973-1984). Throughout his professional career, he used the law to make Canada a better place for workers, racial and ethnic minorities, and the disadvantaged. As a judge, he sought to make the judiciary more responsive to modern Canadian expectations of justice and fundamental rights. In Bora Laskin: Bringing Law to Life, Philip Girard chronicles the life of a man who, at all points of his life, was a fighter for a better Canada: he fought antisemitism, corporate capital, omnipotent university boards, the Law Society of Upper Canada, and his own judicial colleagues in an effort to modernize institutions and re-shape Canadian law. Girard exploits a wealth of previously untapped archival sources to provide, in vivid detail, a critical assessment of a restless man on an important mission.

Bora Laskin

Bora Laskin
Author: Philip Girard
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 673
Release: 2005-01-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0802090443

In the history of twentieth-century Canadian law, Bora Laskin (1912-1984) is by all accounts one of its most important figures. Born in northern Ontario to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Laskin became a prominent human rights activist, university professor, and labour arbitrator before embarking on his 'accidental career' as a judge on the Ontario Court of Appeal, a member of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Chief Justice of Canada. Throughout his entire professional life, he used the law to make Canada a better place for workers, racial and ethnic minorities, and the disadvantaged. As a judge, he sought to make the judiciary more responsive to changing expectations in regard to justice and fundamental rights. In this biography, Philip Girard chronicles the life of a man who fought corporate capital, university boards, the Law Society of Upper Canada, and his own judicial colleagues in an effort to modernize institutions and reshape Canadian law. Girard draws on a wealth of previously untapped archival sources to provide, in vivid detail, a critical assessment of the contributions of a dynamic man on an important mission.

Seven Absolute Rights

Seven Absolute Rights
Author: Ryan Alford
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2020-05-21
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0228002230

For 150 years, Canada's constitutional order has been both flexible and durable, ensuring peace, order, and good government while protecting the absolute rights at the core of the rule of law. In this era of transnational terrorism and proliferating emergency powers, it is essential to revisit how and why our constitutional order developed particular limits on the government's powers, which remain in force despite war, rebellion, and insurrection. Seven Absolute Rights surveys the historical foundations of Canada's rule of law and the ways they reinforce the Constitution. Ryan Alford provides a gripping narrative of constitutional history, beginning with the medieval and early modern context of Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, and the constitutional settlement of the Glorious Revolution. His reconstruction ends with a detailed examination of two pre-Confederation crises: the rebellions of 1837–38 and the riots of 1849, which, as he demonstrates, provide the missing constitutionalist context to the framing of the British North America Act. Through this accessible exploration of key events and legal precedents, Alford offers a distinct perspective on the substantive principles of the rule of law embedded in Canada's Constitution. In bringing constitutional history to life, Seven Absolute Rights reveals the history and meaning of these long-forgotten protections and shows why they remain fundamental to our freedom in the twenty-first century.

The British Tradition in Canadian Law

The British Tradition in Canadian Law
Author: Bora Laskin
Publisher: London : Published under the auspices of the Hamlyn Trust [by] Stevens
Total Pages: 138
Release: 1969
Genre: Droit - Canada - Histoire
ISBN: 9780420428806

The Laskin Legacy

The Laskin Legacy
Author: Constance Backhouse
Publisher:
Total Pages: 219
Release: 2007
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781552211403

A collection of scholarly articles and personal reminiscences which examine the life and career of the late Bora Laskin, Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. It examines Laskin's contribution to legal education and scholarship; to jurisprudence in constitutional, administrative, labour, and private law; and to the Court itself.

A History of Canadian Legal Thought

A History of Canadian Legal Thought
Author: R. C. B. Risk
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 449
Release: 2006-01-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0802094244

This volume in the Osgoode Society's distinguished series on the history of Canadian law is a collection of the principal essays of Professor Emeritus R.C.B. Risk, one of the pioneers of Canadian legal history and for many years regarded as its foremost authority on the history of Canadian legal thought. Frank Scott, Bora Laskin, W.P.M. Kennedy, John Willis and Edward Blake are among the better known figures whose thinking and writing about law are featured in this collection. But this compilation of the most important essays by a pioneer in Canadian legal history brings to light many other lesser known figures as well, whose writings covered a wide range of topics, from estoppel to the British North America Act to the purpose of legal education. Written over more than two decades, and covering the immediate post-Confederation period to the 1960s, these essays reveal a distinctive Canadian tradition of thinking about the nature and functions of law, one which Risk clearly takes pride in and urges us to celebrate.

Administrative Law and Judicial Deference

Administrative Law and Judicial Deference
Author: Matthew Lewans
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2016-01-28
Genre: Law
ISBN: 178225336X

In recent years, the question whether judges should defer to administrative decisions has attracted considerable interest amongst public lawyers throughout the common law world. This book examines how the common law of judicial review has responded to the development of the administrative state in three different common law jurisdictions – the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Canada – over the past 100 years. This comparison demonstrates that the idea of judicial deference is a valuable feature of modern administrative law, because it gives lawyers and judges practical guidance on how to negotiate the constitutional tension between the democratic legitimacy of the administrative state and the judicial role in maintaining the rule of law.

Lawyers and Legal Culture in British North America

Lawyers and Legal Culture in British North America
Author: Philip Girard
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2011-01-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1442644109

From award-winning biographer Philip Girard, Lawyers and Legal Culture in British North America is the first history of the legal profession in Canada to emphasize its cross-provincial similarities and its deep roots in the colonial period. Girard details how nineteenth-century British North American lawyers created a distinctive Canadian template for the profession by combining the strong collective governance of the English tradition with the high degree of creativity and client responsiveness characteristic of U.S. lawyers — a mix that forms the basis of the legal profession in Canada today. Girard provides a unique window on the interconnections between lawyers' roles as community leaders and as legal professionals. Centred on one pre-Confederation lawyer whose career epitomizes the trends of his day, Beamish Murdoch (1800-1876), Lawyers and Legal Culture in British North America makes an important and compelling contribution to Canadian legal history.

The Supreme Court of Canada and its Justices 1875-2000

The Supreme Court of Canada and its Justices 1875-2000
Author: Supreme Court of Canada
Publisher: Dundurn
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2000-11-01
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1770700951

A commemoration of two significant dates, The Supreme Court of Canada and its Justices is also a colourful portrait and an indispensable reference book. A bilingual co-publication of Dundurn Press and the Supreme Court of Canada, the book contains biographies, with portraits or photographs, of every Justice appointed to the Court since its inception. The Supreme Court of Canada and its Justices also features a preface by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and a history of the Court by former Chief Justice Antonio Lamer. A succession list and a selected bibliography are included for researchers. A key section of the book deals with the Court’s distinguished building, which was designed by renowned architect Ernest Cormier. Written by Professor Isabelle Gournay of the University of Maryland and France Vanlaethem of the Universite du Quebec a Montreal, this section is illustrated with Cormier’s own watercolours and drawings, as well as current photographs. The Supreme Court of Canada and its Justices is a fitting commemoration of the Supreme Court’s 125 years and its fiftieth year as the court of last resort in Canada.