From the Privy Council comes an interesting review of the general principles governing retrospective legislation: Ferguson v. The Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago [2016] UKPC 2. The facts in the several cases under appeal arose out of the introduction of a ten-year statutory limitation period for criminal prosecutions in Trinidad and Tobago. At the […] Read more

The Supreme Court of the United States decision in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers’ Association, 575 U.S. _____ (2015) (discussed here) is also notable for the concurring opinions of Justices Scalia and Thomas, which take aim at Seminole Rock deference. Pursuant to this concept, an administrative agency’s interpretation of its own regulations controls unless it is […] Read more

The topic of enforcement discretion is the subject of an interesting series of posts by Zachary Price over at the Volokh Conspiracy. The impetus for Price’s series and his underlying article (“Enforcement Discretion and Executive Duty“) comes from several recent American episodes, such as President Obama’s decision not to enforce certain provisions of the Affordable […] Read more

My colleague Daniel Turp led a spirited challenge to the federal government’s decision to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. Spirited and all as the challenge was, it failed before the Federal Court.The key plank in the argument was legislation that came into force in 2007, the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act. As s. 3 of the […] Read more