scholarly journals Conacher Missed the Mark on Constitutional Conventions and Fixed Election Dates

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (1, 2 & 3) ◽  
pp. 2010
Author(s):  
Andrew Heard
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
Court Case ◽  
Election Law ◽  
Constitutional Convention ◽  
Federal Election ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Constitutional Conventions ◽  
The Law ◽  
Court Of Appeal

Given the fundamental role that conventions play in the Canadian constitution, it is not surprising that litigants try from time to time to engage the courts in defining or even enforcing the terms of a particular convention. The Federal Court’s September 2009 decision in Conacher v. Canada (Prime Minister)1 is the latest high-profile example. Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch, had launched a court case that challenged the 2008 federal election call as contravening either the provisions of the government’s fixed-date election law (Bill C-16,2 passed in 2007), or conventions supporting the law. The Federal Court rejected Conacher’s application, holding among other things that there was no constitutional convention constraining the prime minister from advising an election before the October 2009 date prescribed in the statute. Conacher’s appeal was also rejected. In May 2010, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld the lower court’s decision, stating that "no such convention exists" based on the evidentiary record.3 For many observers, the Conacher decision may seem unsurprising and solidly based on the existing jurisprudence dealing with constitutional conventions.

scholarly journals The Fixed-Date Election Law: Constitutional Convention or Conventional Politics?

2012 ◽  
Vol 19 (1, 2 & 3) ◽  
pp. 2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Hawkins
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
Election Law ◽  
Constitutional Convention ◽  
Minority Government

On September 17, 2009, Justice Michel Shore of the Federal Court of Canada refused a request from Duff Conacher and Democracy Watch, applicants, to declare "that a constitutional convention exists that prohibits a Prime Minister from advising the Governor General to dissolve Parliament except in accordance with Section 56.1 of the Canada Elections Act."1 That section, known as the "fixed-date election law," received Royal Assent on May 3, 2007. The court application was triggered by Prime Minister Harper’s September 7, 2008 request to Governor General Michaëlle Jean asking her to dissolve Parliament and call a "snap" election. The resulting election, held on October 14, 2008, returned another Conservative minority government, albeit a stronger one.

5 Treaties

1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mann F A
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
International Law ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
English Court ◽  
Constitutional Convention ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Law

By the law of the United Kingdom the conclusion of a treaty at all its stages is a matter of the prerogative, so that the Executive alone, that is Her Majesty the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister, a Minister of the Crown, an Ambassador, or other officials have the power to conclude, that is to sign and ratify it, and thus to bind the United Kingdom in the sense of international law, though by the so-called Ponsonby rule, as a matter of constitutional convention, the Executive will not normally ratify a treaty until twenty-one parliamentary days after the treaty has been laid before both Houses of Parliament. In order to be unquestionably cognizable by an English court a treaty has to be the object of the established legislative process, that is to say, it has to have the sanction of a statute passed by Parliament.

scholarly journals DO CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS BIND?

2005 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Jaconelli
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
British Government ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Constitutional Convention ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Constitutional Conventions

CONSTITUTIONAL conventions are to be found in political and legal systems of very different types. Not surprisingly, they exist in considerable abundance in those systems—the prime example is the United Kingdom—the affairs of which are ordered by an unwritten constitution. Familiar instances of constitutional conventions in British government include the following: that the Monarch is required to appoint as Prime Minister the person best placed to command a majority in the House of Commons; that governments are to resign when defeated on a vote of no confidence; that the judicial members of the House of Lords refrain from indulging in party political debate in the chamber; and that ministers are to resign from office after displaying an (admittedly indeterminate) degree of mismanagement of their departments. The preconditions of the existence of any particular constitutional convention are set out in a well-known passage by Sir Ivor Jennings.

Englander v. Telus: Protection of Privacy in the Private Sector Goes to the Federal Court of Appeal

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc-Aurele Racicot
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Personal Information ◽  
Information Age ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
Personal Life ◽  
Information Protection ◽  
Public Places ◽  
Electronic Documents ◽  
Full Force ◽  
Court Of Appeal

These days, is there a topic more significant and provocative than the protection of privacy in the private sector? The importance of this topic has been highlighted since the Canadian Parliament adopted the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act which came into full force on 1 January 2004 and which is scheduled for review in 2006. Although it seems that everywhere we turn, the word "privacy" and its companion PIPEDA are at centre stage, many say that this attention is unwarranted and a knee-jerk reaction to the information age where one can run but cannot hide. Like it or not, we are subject to the prying eyes of cameras in public places, the tracking and trailing of Internet activities, the selling of address lists and other such listings, and the synthesizing by marketers of frightful amounts of personal information that, when pulled together, reveals a lot about our personal life, our ancestry, our relationships, our interests and our spending habits.

Excessive Data Collection as a Form of Anticompetitive Conduct: The German Facebook Case

2021 ◽  
pp. 0003603X2199702
Author(s):  
Anne C. Witt
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Competition Law ◽  
Federal Court ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Federal Court Of Justice ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
Abuse Of Dominance

In a high-profile decision of February 6, 2019, the German Federal Cartel Office prohibited Facebook’s data collection policy as an abuse of dominance for infringing its users’ constitutional right to privacy. The case triggered a remarkable interinstitutional dispute between the key players in German competition law. Conflicting rulings by the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court and the German Federal Court of Justice further illustrate how deeply divided the antitrust community is on the role of competition law in regulating excessive data collection and other novel types of harm caused by dominant digital platforms. This contribution discusses the original prohibition decision, the ensuing court orders, and legislative reform proposals in the broader context of European Union and U.S. competition law.

An Economic and Jurisprudential Genealogy of Corporate Law. By Michael J. Whincop. [Aldershot: Ashgate. 2001. xviii, 222, (Bibliography) 20 and (Index) 5 pp. Hardback £45. ISBN 1–84014–773–3.]

2002 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 463-492
Author(s):  
John Armour
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Law ◽  
Company Law ◽  
Economic Methodology ◽  
Evolutionary Account ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Intuitive Appeal ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Law

Economic analysis has recently gained a high profile in English company law scholarship, not least through its employment by the Law Commissions and its resonance with the Company Law Review. This approach has taught us much about how company law functions in relation to the marketplace. Whincop’s book is, however, the first attempt to use economic methodology not only to explain how the law functions, but also to provide an evolutionary account of why the history of English company law followed the path it did. The result is a thesis that, whilst complex, has a powerful intuitive appeal for those familiar with Victorian company law judgments.

scholarly journals Culpability, Kingston and the Law Commission

2010 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 434-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cath Crosby
Keyword(s):  
Justice System ◽  
Criminal Liability ◽  
Character Theory ◽  
Criminal Offence ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
The Law ◽  
Court Of Appeal ◽  
Law Commission ◽  
Do So

This article considers the basis upon which a person should be held to be criminally liable, and to do so, it is necessary to examine the leading theories of character and choice that underpin the State holding a person to be culpable of a criminal offence, i.e. the link between culpability and fault. The case of R v Kingston1 is used to examine the application of these leading theories and it is observed that choice theorists would not excuse such a defendant from criminal liability even though his capacity to make a choice to refrain from law breaking was made extremely difficult by external factors beyond his control. Only character theory could possibly offer exculpation in such circumstances on the basis that the defendant acted ‘out of character’ and his deed did not deserve the full censure and punishment of the criminal law. The Court of Appeal in R v Kingston would have been prepared to excuse, but the House of Lords, and most recently the Law Commission have adopted a pragmatic approach to the involuntarily intoxicated offender. This case serves as a reminder that while justice is the aim of the criminal justice system, it is not an absolute standard.

Canada-US ties will see fewer irritants under Biden

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
The United States ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Federal Election ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Un Peacekeeping ◽  
Keystone Xl ◽  
Keystone Xl Pipeline

Significance Canada’s Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is preparing to welcome a more predictable and stable partner in Biden than outgoing Republican President Donald Trump. However, Biden is also expected quickly to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline, cutting another lifeline to Canada’s oil industry and creating some strain in Canada-US ties. Impacts Improved Canada-US ties will persist even if Trudeau loses the next federal election to Conservative Erin O’Toole. Canada will re-engage militarily with UN peacekeeping and NATO deployments. Trudeau will encourage Biden to end US prosecution of Meng Wanzhou, allowing Canada to release her; Biden may agree. Canada’s border with the United States will open in stages as COVID-19 recedes. Ottawa will push Biden to end ‘Buy American’ procurement policies, with little success.

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