Courts around Canada are beginning to apply the Vavilov framework. Obviously, it is too early to draw any conclusions. Nonetheless, even at this early stage in the life of Vavilovian judicial review there have been some interesting decisions. I have been coming back to this post periodically to update it with significant new decisions. If […] Read more

Predicting the long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic has become a cottage industry. It is also something of a fool’s errand as the medium- to long-term outcomes depend in large part on how many waves of COVID-19 sweep over us and how bad the effects are. Nonetheless, for what little they are worth, let me […] Read more

With the support of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society I will be moderating a discussion of the recent Federal Court of Appeal decision in Entertainment Software Assoc. v. Society Composers, 2020 FCA 100, a case at the intersection of copyright law and administrative law. I will be joined by Carys J. Craig (Osgoode […] Read more

I am currently working on a chapter for “Leading Works in Public Law”, a collection edited by Ben Yong and Patrick O’Brien. My chapter is on SA de Smith’s Judicial Review of Administrative Action. Here is a draft of the third section, on “The Significance” The Significance Judicial Review of Administrative Action was “the first […] Read more

Although this year’s Osgoode Constitutional Cases Conference was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual issue of the Supreme Court Law Review containing papers from the Conference is going ahead. My paper is entitled “Vavilov and the Culture of Justification in Contemporary Administrative Law“. Here is the abstract: The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision […] Read more

Recently, Mark Mancini and Léonid Sirota at Double Aspect took issue with the arguments we made in our posts on the Vavilov decision which Paul Daly had kindly published at Administrative Law Matters. Paul has since generously offered us space to respond. We aim to keep our rejoinder short and spicy, but we also want […] Read more

I am currently working on a chapter for “Leading Works in Public Law”, a collection edited by Ben Yong and Patrick O’Brien. My chapter is on SA de Smith’s Judicial Review of Administrative Action. Here is a draft of the second section, on “The Context” The Context As noted, Judicial Review of Administrative Action began […] Read more

I have posted “Governmental Power and COVID-19: The Limits of Judicial Review” to SSRN. Here is the abstract: The goal of this Chapter is to explain why those hoping for a high level of judicial engagement with the forms of power being used to combat the cultural, economic, medical, social and other fallout from the […] Read more

One of the questions from the audience at last week’s Centre for Constitutional Studies Webinar on Emergency Powers and Legal Principle (accessible free of charge here) was about the legality of the First Nations Election Cancellation and Postponement Regulations (Prevention of Diseases), SOR/2020-84. Articles 2, 3 and 4 of the Regulations provide in respect of […] Read more

Mark Mancini has posted a reply to my response to the paper in which he argues that Doré and Vavilov cannot be or are difficult to reconciled. I suppose this, then, is a surreply (civil procedure mavens should feel free to correct my terminology and hyphenation). I think Mancini shifts the goalposts in his reply […] Read more

This is a post by lawyer Nick Falzon (Young Anderson), prompted by the recent Guest Posts from the West Coast series As a lawyer operating “in the trenches” of post-Vavilov municipal administrative law, I write this respectful response to Professor Alexandra Flynn’s post: “There’s a New Boss in Town: Vavilov and Municipalities”. While I agree […] Read more