Call for Conference Papers Charter Litigation and the Use of Social Science Evidence: After thirty years what have we learned? What could we do better? University of Toronto, St. George Campus – March 23& 24, 2012 The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights invites papers for its upcoming conference. This multi-disciplinary event will create opportunities ... Read More
The British Columbia Supreme Court released its decision in the Ref. Re. S.293 of the Criminal Code of Canada (Polygamy Reference) on November 23rd. With a length of over 280 pages, the case provides the most comprehensive judical record on the subject of polygamy ever produced. Legal arguments were presented by the Attorney General of ... Read More
On September 20th, 2011, federal justice minister Rob Nicholson tabled Bill C-10, the Safe Streets and Communities Act. Forty five sitting days later, on December 5th, the bill passed in the House of Commons. The bill includes several reforms in our criminal justice system, including new mandatory minimum sentences and the elimination of conditional sentences ... Read More
The Asper Centre working groups aim to provide U of T students with an opportunity to conduct legal research and assist in advocacy on Canadian constitutional rights issues (often in partnership with an external organization). The Asper Centre requires all potential working groups (including existing working groups) to submit a written proposal for consideration by ... Read More
Dr. Pavlos Eleftheriadis (University Lecturer & Fellow in Law, University of Oxford) Abstract: The United Kingdom constitution endorses both parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law as constitutional principles of the highest rank. The relations between the two have been a source of great puzzles, legal and philosophical. In this paper Professor Eleftheriadis attempts to ... Read More
Prof. Wayne Sumner (Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of Toronto, expert witness on ethics in the Carter case) and Joseph Arvay, Q.C. (counsel for the plaintiffs in Carter and leading constitutional litigator) will reflect on the landmark British Columbia Supreme Court decision, Carter v Canada 2012 BCSC 886. Joseph J. Arvay, QC holds law degrees ... Read More
Helen Irving, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Sydney Abstract: In this paper, I invite a reconceptualization of constitutional (as distinct from political) citizenship, by examining the legal practice, virtually universal between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, of the denaturalization of citizen women who married alien men. This practice, which emerged as a by-product of ... Read More
Andrew Geddis, Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Otago Abstract: This paper begins with the broader question of how a constitutional order based upon a liberal-democratic commitment to letting the people choose their lawmakers ought to respond to allegations of flaws in its election process. After all, any large-scale human undertaking is bound to fall ... Read More
Developments in Thirty Years of Fact Finding What have we learned? What could we do better? Event date: Friday, November 09, 2012, from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM Location: Flavelle House, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto Opening Plenary Panel: The Challenges for Judges Justice Robert Sharpe (Ontario Court of Appeal); Justice Susan Himel (Ontario ... Read More
Sanford Levinson W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair Professor of Government, School of Law University of Texas at Austin Event date: Wednesday, November 28, 2012, from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM Location: Rowell Room, Flavelle House, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto Abstract: The Federalist is, without a doubt, ... Read More