Commentary on developments in administrative law, particularly judicial review of administrative action by common law courts.
I am happy to say that Understanding Administrative Law in the Common Law World (Oxford University Press, 2021) is now available for purchase from (as they say) all good book stores. To whet the appetite, I have made the first chapter available for free on SSRN: This book has three goals: to enhance understanding of […] Read more
I recently speculated about the scope of the new correctness category recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada in Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v. Entertainment Software Association, 2022 SCC 30. At today’s Supreme Court of Canada hearing in Mason (see my post here: I was co-counsel for one of the […] Read more
In a pair of decisions this week the Alberta Court of Appeal has tackled the question of the framework for judicial review of regulations: Auer v. Auer, 2022 ABCA 375 and TransAlta Generation Partnership v. Alberta (Minister of Municipal Affairs), 2022 ABCA 381. In both instances — Governor-in-Council regulations on support payments in Auer, ministerial […] Read more
Next week the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the appeal in the Mason case. The principal issue is the interpretation of s. 34(1)(e) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Under s. 34, a permanent resident or foreign national is inadmissible to Canada “on security grounds” for, amongst other things, “engaging in acts of […] Read more
Justice Stratas and I will be presenting at the Ontario Bar Association’s Annual Update On Judicial Review tomorrow (registration for the webcast is here). Here is the bill of fare: The Supreme Court: Undue Delay, International Law and the Standard of Review Law Society of Saskatchewan v. Abrametz, 2022 SCC 29 Society of Composers, Authors […] Read more
At the risk of overdoing it by posting twice on methodology in the same week (see also here), I should like to highlight a recent seminar held by the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at the University of Melbourne. The topic is a forthcoming collection edited by yours truly and Professor Joe Tomlinson (York), Researching […] Read more
Readers may be interested by Professor Richard Fentiman KC’s Queens’ Distinguished Lecture in Law delivered at Queens’ College, Cambridge a few weeks ago. His title was “Citadels of the Law: Law Schools and the Defence of Doctrine” and the whole thing is well worth your time: On the same theme, Professor Jason Varuhas has an […] Read more
In Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada v. Entertainment Software Association, 2022 SCC 30, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized a “rare” and “exceptional” new category of matters requiring correctness review, namely “when courts and administrative bodies have concurrent first instance jurisdiction over a legal issue in a statute” (at para. 28). […] Read more
With co-author Brandon Orct I prepared the country report on Canada for the “Artficial Intelligence Accountability” stream for this year’s General Congress of the International Academy for Comparative Law. Our report is available now on SSRN: This is the country report on “Artificial Intelligence Accountability” prepared in respect of Canada for the International Academy of […] Read more
With my excellent former research assistant, Kseniya Kudischeva, I have prepared a chapter for a forthcoming volume edited by Anne Carter and Joe Tomlinson on Facts in Public Law Adjudication. Our chapter is “The Rise of Facts in Public Law“: In Commonwealth jurisdictions, judges have traditionally been reluctant to grapple with factual issues in public […] Read more
The Public Order Emergency Commission chaired by Justice Paul Rouleau of the Ontario Court of Appeal has been up and running for the past few weeks. The Commission is established under s. 63 of the Emergencies Act: The Governor in Council shall, within sixty days after the expiration or revocation of a declaration of emergency, […] Read more