The Rule of Law is like the oxygen in the air: we don’t notice it until we are having trouble breathing. Today, we watch as Americans struggle to breathe as the Rule of Law is under threat. It is time for all Canadian legal organizations to take stock and reinforce our protections of the Rule of Law.

Here in Canada, most Canadians likely either do not know or may not appreciate the role that CanLII plays in maintaining the Rule of Law in our country.

In the Quebec Secession Reference (1998), the Supreme Court of Canada identified the Rule of . . . [more]

Every week we present the summary of a decision handed down by a Québec court provided to us by SOQUIJ and considered to be of interest to our readers throughout Canada. SOQUIJ is attached to the Québec Department of Justice and collects, analyzes, enriches, and disseminates legal information in Québec.

PÉNAL (DROIT) : La Cour rejette l’appel du verdict de culpabilité prononcé à l’endroit de la belle-mère de la «fillette de Granby» et l’appel de l’ordonnance ayant porté à 13 ans la période préalable à l’admissibilité à la libération conditionnelle.

Intitulé : A c. R., 2025 QCCA 300
Juridiction :  . . . [more]

When a stranger breaks the rules in a scary way, it is always tempting to banish them.

This old-fashioned word might suggest disgraced medieval nobles driven from of their kingdoms. But banishment occurs whenever a person is cast out from what used to be their home or social group.

A few examples of modern-day banishment:

• Expelling high school students who have committed acts of violence is a straightforward way to show “zero tolerance” for their misbehaviour. Doing so is often welcomed by other students and parents who have suffered from the misbehaviour.
• If unhoused people are or might

Civility and its importance are contested in the Canadian legal profession and the Canadian legal academy. [1] Moreover, civility and the broader concept of professionalism have a shameful history as exclusionary concepts with significant negative impact on the ability of members of equity-seeking groups to join the legal profession and succeed in the practice of law. [2] The contemporary complexities of civility and professionalism remain problematic.[3] And even at its pinnacle, the civility movement had its critics as well as its supporters.[4] In the aftermath of Law Society of Upper Canada v Groia, the movement may not . . . [more]

Whatever its faults (and there are more than a few), “the rule of law” underpins democracy as a bulwark against authoritarianism. It is not only the system of laws that does this, but the actors who are most closely aligned with ensuring that the rule of law works: the judges and lawyers.

Nothing makes the intent of creating an authoritarian system more evident than undermining the judiciary and lawyers. That the judiciary must be independent is well-known. Less so lawyers.
The well-known phrase from William Shakespeare’s Henry VI, Part II, Act IV, Scene II, “the first thing we do is, . . . [more]

If you had asked both a Canadian and an American, in the last several weeks, “What do you think about the mess at the country’s largest legal regulator?”, you would’ve had two separate conversations about two separate messes, which together speak to a single big problem for lawyer self-regulation.

The Canadian would assume you were speaking about the March dismissal of Law Society of Ontario CEO Diana Miles, following the submission of a confidential report to the LSO’s Board of Directors (Convocation) from a retired judge into a significant and unapproved salary hike arranged without the knowledge or approval . . . [more]

Territories have the unique characteristic of being both in and out at the same time. Despite their massive differences in all areas, you can easily spot the “territory” due to this in and out feature. Whether they are called a special administrative unit, dependency, self-governing, autonomous nation, outermost/overseas department, etc., once you have identified this in and out cycle, it’s fair to assume that you’re working with a territory, despite the elaborate names these places tend to have.

Let me explain what I mean by an in and out cycle. Usually, recent events, either in the territory itself or external . . . [more]

Every week we present the summary of a decision handed down by a Québec court provided to us by SOQUIJ and considered to be of interest to our readers throughout Canada. SOQUIJ is attached to the Québec Department of Justice and collects, analyzes, enriches, and disseminates legal information in Québec.

PÉNAL (DROIT) : La Cour substitue à la peine de 12 mois d’emprisonnement infligée à une policière, dont la conduite dangereuse avait causé la mort d’un motocycliste, une peine de 18 mois d’emprisonnement à purger dans la collectivité; le juge de première instance aurait dû analyser tant les répercussions des . . . [more]

I was recently speaking with someone about the Internet’s “Eternal September”, which is the concept that starting in 1993/1994 so many new users started using the internet that it could never settle into the online equivalent of November on campus, when people have figured things out where their classes are and where to get the sandwiches they like for lunch. From the perspective of 30+ years later, with no indication that the phenomenon has slowed, wearing a t-shirt saying that the internet was full in 1993 seems to lack, if not imagination, then at least prescience. However, the cultural . . . [more]

Periodically on Thursdays, we present a significant excerpt, usually from a recently published book or journal article. In every case the proper permissions have been obtained. If you are a publisher who would like to participate in this feature, please let us know via the site’s contact form.

Legal Ethics and the Attorney General: A Canadian Analysis

Author: Andrew Flavelle Martin
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Publication Date: April, 2025
ISBN 9781487554736 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781487554774 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781487554767 (PDF)
Page count: 288 pages; 6 x 9

Excerpt: Chapter 1. Introduction: The Attorney General and the Practice of . . . [more]