Martin attends Analytic Legal Philosophy conference at Yale

Western Law professor Margaret Martin was an invited guest at the Analytic Legal Philosophy Committee Meeting held at Yale Law School on April 20-21, 2012. A select number of legal and moral philosophers from around the globe are invited to attend the conference each year. [read more]

Martin presents Judging Positivism at Georgetown University

Margaret Martin was an invited speaker at the Georgetown University Law Center on March 26.  She presented a chapter of her forth-coming book, Judging Positivism, as part of the Law and Philosophy Seminar series organized by Professors Mark Murphy and Lawrence Solum of Georgetown Law. 

Are Minimum Sentences Constitutional?

Grant Huscroft was interviewed on TVO's The Agenda with Steve Paikin on the controversy surrounding the decision in Smickle, in which an Ontario Judge held that the minimum sentence for possession of restricted firearm constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Watch interview here. 

Judging Justice Binnie

Professors Grant Huscroft, Bradley Miller, and Andrew Botterell mooted Justice Binnie's legacy before an overflow audience at the law school on February 17. The professors each discussed two cases decided by Justice Binnie during his 14-year term on the Court, nominating what they described as his “best and worst” decisions. [read more]

Botterell and Martin on Rethinking Criminal Law 

Oxford University professor Paul Yowell teaching January Term course 

John Turner Visiting Fellow Paul Yowell writes on the EU Act 2011 in the UK Constitutional Law Blog http://ukconstitutionallaw.org/blog/. Yowell, visiting from the University of Oxford, is currently teaching a course at Western Law in comparative constitutional law.

Roundtable on Collective Rights

Dwight Newman (pictured left) of the University of Saskatchewan discussed his new book, Community and Collective Rights: A Theoretical Framework for Rights Held by Groups at a roundtable on January 6, 2012. Benjamin Berger of Osgoode Hall Law School and Tracy Isaacs of Philosophy and Women's studies at Western joined Erika Chamberlain and members of the Public Law and Legal Philosophy Group.

Justice David Stratas visits Western Law

Justice David Stratas of the Federal Court of Appeal delivered a masterful lecture on the Supreme Court of Canada's watershed decision in Dunsmuir and discussed the future of judicial review during a visit to Western Law on November 7. In addition to guest lecturing in Professor Grant Huscroft's Administrative Law class, Justice Stratas met with first-year constitutional law students and answered questions on a wide range of subjects from litigation tips to work-life balance. "Justice Stratas is an outstanding jurist and teacher, and the students really appreciated his insights,” Huscroft noted. 

Huscroft on Hate Speech in the Supreme Court

Grant Huscroft appeared on TVO's The Agenda to debate the constitutionality of provincial human rights legislation regulating hate speech. The debate was prompted by the Whatcott case, currently under consideration in the Supreme Court of Canada. The video can be viewed here.

Assisted Suicide and Judicial Review

Bradley Miller writes on Assisted Suicide and Judicial Review in the UK Constitutional Law Group Blog

The Legitimacy of Implied Rights

Grant Huscroft's article, "Romance, Realism, and the Legitimacy of Implied Rights" has been posted on SSRN, and is "highly recommended" by the Lawrence Solum's Legal Theory blog. [read more]

Botterell on Ripstein's Force and Freedom

Andrew Botterell's book review of Arthur Ripstein's Force and Freedom has been published in the Canadian Journal of Political Science.

The Challenge of Originalism Published

The Challenge of Originalism has been published by Cambridge University Press. Edited by Grant Huscroft and Bradley Miller, the book offers fresh insights into comparative and cross-disciplinary approaches to constitutional interpretation from some of the world's leading theorists – proponents and critics of originalism – and is a must-read for anyone interested in constitutional theory generally. [read more]

Legislated Rights workshop in Oxford

Bradley Miller presented his paper 'Moral reasoning and judicial review' at the Legislated Rights workshop at New College, Oxford on August 13.  Miller's paper - and the workshop as a whole - investigated the challenges posed by underdetermined constitutional rights coupled with judicial review and proportionality tests.  The workshop was hosted by Oxford's Paul Yowell (who will be teaching a course in comparative public law at Western Law in January 2012), LSE lecturer Grégoire Webber, and University of Auckland's Richard Ekins (Western Law January Term visitor in 2013).  

Renowned jurist to deliver 4th annual Coxford Lecture

The Honourable Mr. Justice Ian Binnie of the Supreme Court of Canada will deliver the 2011-12 Coxford Lecture on Thursday, February 16, 2012. Justice Binnie, the senior puisne judge, recently announced his retirement from the Court. “Justice Binnie has made an enormous contribution to Canadian law and it is an honour to have him deliver this year’s Coxford Lecture,” says Professor Grant Huscroft. [read more]

Margaret Martin delivers keynote at "The Nature of Law: Contemporary Perspectives" conference 

Professor Margaret Martin is one of the keynote speakers at "The Nature of Law: Contemporary Perspectives", the 2011 McMaster University Philosophy of Law Conference held on May 11-15. Other keynote speakers include Matthew Kramer (Cambridge), Brian Leiter (Chicago), Mike Giudice (York), Scott Shapiro (Yale), and Mark Murphy (Georgetown). Professor Grant Huscroft congratulated the Conference organizer, Professor Wil Waluchow of McMaster University. "He has brought an outstanding group of scholars for the conference," said Professor Huscroft. 

Public Law series attracts top scholars

Some of the world's top public law scholars and legal philosophers participated in Western Law's Pre-eminent Public Law Scholars Series, now in its second year. "The Public Law Scholars Series provides an outstanding opportunity for Western Law students to learn from international leaders in public law and legal philosophy," said Professor Grant Huscroft, the series organizer. [read more]

Charter Equality Revisited

Professors  Grant Huscroft, Gillian Demeyere and Bradley Miller participated in a public forum on April 6 on recent developments in the interpretation of Charter right to equality. Discussion centered on the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Withler v Canada, where the Court confirmed its recent shift from a dignity-centered approach to s. 15(1) of the Charter and abandoned the concept of comparator groups. [read more]

Timothy Endicott on Vagueness in Law

Professor Timothy Endicott (pictured middle with Professors Huscoft and Miller), Dean of the Faculty of Law at Oxford University, visited Western Law on March 25 to deliver the last seminar in the Preeminent Public Law Scholars Series on "Vagueness and Law". Professor Endicott is a Professor of Legal Philosophy and a leading authority on the concept of vagueness. His work on Jurisprudence and Constitutional and Administrative Law includes Vagueness in Law (OUP 2000) and Administrative Law (OUP 2009). Professor Huscroft said: "It was a pleasure to host Professor Endicott, whose visit ended the series on a high note."

John Gardner on Law and Morality

Professor John Gardner, Professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford University, visited Western Law on March 21 as part of the Pre-eminent Public Law and Legal Philosophy Scholars Series. Professor Gardner is a prolific legal theorist whose intellectual interests include criminal law, the law of torts, and constitutionalism. He spoke to his paper, "Law and Morality", and a lively discussion period followed. Professor Wil Waluchow, the Senator William Mcaster Chair of Constitutional Studies at McMaster University, attended along with several of his doctoral students.

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