Stare Decisis And The Supreme Court Of Canada

Daved Muttart has made a systematic study encompassing every judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada between 1950 and 2003. Muttart uses the results of this systematic examination to test the validity of extant jurisprudential theories.

The Supreme Court of Canada is always in the news. Whether the issue is Aboriginal fishing rights or the rights of same-sex couples, the Court often makes groundbreaking decisions on controversial topics. This book, a history of the Canadian Supreme Court, explains how the court slowly emerged as the powerful and influential institution it is today. Using 1949 as the year of birth for the modern Supreme Court, Peter McCormick traces the court's development from an institution of relatively minor importance to one that is central to Canadian society. McCormick discusses key cases and looks at the lasting influence of each Chief Justice. Supreme at Last is a unique portrait of a political institution whose power is on the rise.

Throughout his study, Bushnell investigates the question of the absence of an independent judicial tradition in Canada and the development of distinct legal doctrine by the Supreme Court. He analyses the nature and cause of the lack of independent thought that makes the Court "captive" to inherited traditions and legal doctrines and prevents it from achieving its true potential within the Canadian legal system. Previous studies of the Court have concentrated on the years after 1949; by expanding the coverage to include the first three-quarters of a century of the Court's existence, Bushnell has uncovered a critical aspect of Canadian legal history. Bushnell provides an analysis of more than eighty cases decided by the Court between 1876 and 1989. He examines the backgrounds and views of the sixty-seven judges who served on the Supreme Court during this period, evaluating both the role they felt they played in Canadian society and the role others expected them to play. He studies the question of the right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and its effect on the Supreme Court, as well as the movement toward the abolition of appeal. In the concluding part of the study Bushnell considers the controversy over the demand for impartial justice, criticism of the judiciary, and the judges who will take the Court into the twenty-first century.

In the last half-century, the Supreme Court of Canada has undergone major upheaval. The most drastic change occurred with the adoption of the Charter of Rights in 1982, which substantially increased the Court's role in resolving controversial political and social issues. The Transformation of the Supreme Court of Canada examines the impact of institutional changes on the proceedings and decisions of the Court from 1970 to 2003. The first book on the Supreme Court to incorporate extensive in-depth interviews with former justices, this study provides both insiders' accounts of how decisions are made and an empirical analysis of more than 3,000 Court decisions. Drawing on this extensive commentary and statistical data, Donald R. Songer demonstrates that the Court has remained a politically moderate and democratic institution despite its considerable power and influence. The most comprehensive account of its kind to date, The Transformation of the Supreme Court of Canada makes a significant contribution to the literature and will be of particular interest to scholars and students of judicial behaviour and comparative law.

In Governing from the Bench, Emmett Macfarlane draws on interviews with current and former justices, law clerks, and other staff members of the court to shed light on the institution’s internal environment and decision-making processes. He explores the complex role of the Supreme Court as an institution; exposes the rules, conventions, and norms that shape and constrain its justices’ behavior; and situates the court in its broader governmental and societal context, as it relates to the elected branches of government, the media, and the public.