Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Library of Parliament Legislative Summary of Bill S-7, the Combating Terrorism Act

The Library of Parliament recently published its legislative summary of Bill S-7, the Combating Terrorism Act (short title):
"It is a 30-clause bill which:
  • amends section 7(2) of the Criminal Code, which describes acts or omissions in relation to aircraft, airports and air navigation systems that have taken place outside Canada, and which, by operation of section 7(2) and section 83.01(1)(a) of the Code, constitute 'terrorist activity' (clause 2);
  • introduce new terrorism offences to Part II.1 of the Code prohibiting individuals from leaving or attempting to leave Canada for the purpose of committing certain terrorism offences (clauses 6 to 8);
  • increases existing penalties under the Code for those who knowingly harbour or conceal individuals who have committed terrorism offences, in certain circumstances (clause 9);
  • reinstates provisions in the Code allowing for investigative hearings and recognizance with conditions/preventive arrest in relation to terrorist activity (clauses 10 to 13);
  • amends sections 37 and 38 to 38.16 of the Canada Evidence Act (CEA) in accordance with the Federal Court of Canada’s decision in Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. v. Canada, and in accordance with some, but not all, of the recommendations for change to the CEA made in the March 2007 report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security’s Subcommittee on the Review of the Anti-terrorism Act (House of Commons Subcommittee) (clauses 17 to 24);
  • amends the definition of 'special operational information' found in the Security of Information Act (SOIA), to ensure that the identity of confidential sources currently being used by the government is considered 'special operational information' under that Act (clause 28); and
  • increases the maximum penalty for the offence of knowingly harbouring or concealing individuals who have committed an offence under the SOIA, in certain circumstances (clause 29)."
It is possible to follow the progress of the bill through Parliament on the LEGISinfo website.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:34 pm 0 comments

Monday, July 30, 2012

Materials from AALL 2012 Conference

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) held its annual conference last week in Boston.

I wasn't there (a colleague attended) but AALL always tries to make as many of its conference-related materials as possible available online. These include:
And, as I found out from Kim Nayyer's post on Slaw.ca , there is even a collection of all of the #aall12 tweets in convenient .csv format.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 8:35 pm 0 comments

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Updated Library of Parliament Research Publication on Federal Public Sector Whistleblowing

The Library of Parliament has updated its research publication entitled Federal Public Sector Whistleblowing:
"Disclosing wrongdoing in the public sector and protecting public servants who make disclosures is not new. It has been the subject of task forces, policies, codes, reports, studies and both government and private members’ bills since 1996."
"However, the findings of the 2003 November Report of the Auditor General of Canada and the subsequent commission of inquiry into the Government of Canada sponsorship programs from 1997 to 2001 and its advertising activities from 1998 to 2003, known as the Gomery Commission, brought to the fore the need for better protection for whistleblowers who attempt to disclose wrongdoing in the federal public service."
"According to the Phase 1 report of the Gomery Commission (Who Is Responsible?), attempting to disclose questionable business practices and possible mismanagement of public funds during the periods under review did, in fact, cost one public servant his job.4 That public servants might be reluctant to report questionable practices within their departments or agencies seemed likely, given the real possibility of reprisal, together with a lack of protection for whistleblowers."
The document briefly looks at the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, the recommebdations of theGomery Commission into the federal sponsorship scandal, as well s other federal and provincial legislation.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 6:14 pm 0 comments

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Global Commission on HIV and the Law Report on Risks, Rights & Health

The Global Commission on HIV and the Law, an independent body established by the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, has published its final report HIV and the Law: Risks, Rights & Health.

The Commission undertook 18 months of extensive research, consultation, analysis and deliberation and heard from individuals and experts in 140 countries. The Commission had 14 members from around the globe, including Canadian Stephen Lewis. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former president of Brazil, was its chair.

Among the Commission's recommendations:
  • Repeal punitive laws and enact laws that facilitate and enable effective responses to HIV prevention, care and treatment services for all who need them. Enact no laws that explicitly criminalise HIV transmission, exposure or non-disclosure of HIV status
  • Work with the guardians of customary and religious law to promote traditions and religious practice that promote rights and acceptance of diversity
  • Decriminalise private and consensual adult sexual behaviours, including same-sex sexual acts and voluntary sex work
  • Prosecute the perpetrators of sexual violence, including marital rape and rape related to conflict, whether perpetrated against females, males, or transgender people
  • Abolish all mandatory HIV-related registration, testing, and forced treatment regimens. Facilitate access to sexual and reproductive health services and stop forced abortion and coerced sterilisation of HIV-positive women and girls
  • Rather than punishing people who use drugs but do no harm to others, governments must offer them access to effective HIV and health services, including harm reduction programmes and voluntary, evidence-based treatment for drug dependence
  • In matters relating to HIV and the law, offer the same standard of protection to migrants, visitors and residents who are not citizens as is extended to citizens. Restrictions that prohibit people living with HIV from entering a country and/or regulations that mandate HIV tests for foreigners within a country should be repealed
  • Develop an effective IP regime for pharmaceutical products. Such a regime must be consistent with international human rights law and public health needs, while safeguarding the justifiable rights of inventors

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:56 pm 1 comments

Australasian Colonial Legal History Library

AustLII, the Australasian Legal Information Institute, has launched the Australasian Colonial Legal History Library, a free online collection of databases containing legal information from the colonial period of Australia and New Zealand.

A recent article explaining the project, Digitising and searching Australasian colonial legal history, has been published on the Social Science Research Network:
"The paper explains the construction, content and features of the first version of the Library, which as of July 2012 contains 12 databases including one case law database from each of the seven colonies (including New Zealand), some of which are ‘recovered’ cases from newspaper reports, the complete annual legislation to 1900 from three of the colonies, plus legal scholarship concerning the colonial era. These databases provide over 20,000 documents so far, and the Victorian Government Gazette 1851-1900 another 200,000. The Library also includes the LawCite citator, which allows the subsequent citation history of any colonial case to be tracked, including if cited by courts outside Australasia."

"The medium term aim of this part of the ARC project (which extends to 1950 in its full scope) is to include all legislation, reported cases, and cases which can be ‘recovered’, from the inception of each colony to 1900. Scholarship (old and new) and key source materials are also being added, as budgets permit. We hope that the Library will be a leader in the creation of legal history resources from the colonial era."

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:38 pm 0 comments

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Library of Parliament Publication on Parliamentary Committee Review of Regulations

The Library of Parliament has recently updated its research publication on the Parliamentary Committee Review of Regulations.

From the summary:
"Since the 1980s, Parliament has improved its ability to review regulations. The Standing Joint Committee on Scrutiny of Regulations has the power to review most government regulations and to recommend disallowance. In addition, Parliament has passed a number of Acts that provide for the parliamentary review of proposed regulations. In most cases, improvements in Parliament’s ability to review regulations came about as a result of pressure by parliamentarians and the public, not as a result of a government initiative."
"The provisions for parliamentary review of proposed regulations vary. Some Acts merely provide for review of the proposed regulations by the appropriate committee, without specifying how the government would have to deal with any recommendations. These include the Official Languages Act, the Referendum Act, the Canada Small Business Financing Act, and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. In addition, the User Fees Act provides for a review of proposed user fees, but does not specify how the government would have to respond to a parliamentary resolution amending or rejecting a proposed fee."
"On the other hand, several Acts spell out how or when the government must respond to parliamentary recommendations. Regulations under certain sections of the Official Languages Act may not be made if both houses of Parliament adopt a motion to that effect. The Emergencies Act gives Parliament the power to revoke special orders and regulations made by the government in the event of an emergency. The Firearms Act sets time limits before the government may make the regulations. Under the Tobacco Act, in addition to similar time limits, if the House of Commons concurs in a committee report recommending that a regulation be amended, then the regulation may be made only in the amended form. Finally, under the Assisted Human Reproduction Act, in addition to similar time limits, the minister must take committee reports into account, and if a regulation does not incorporate a committee recommendation, the minister must explain why it does not."

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:10 pm 0 comments

Statistics Canada Reports Lowest Crimes Stats Since 1972

Statistics Canada today released Police-reported crime statistics, 2011 that shows the overall volume of crime in Canada declined by 6% in 2010. The crime rate is now lower than it was in 1972.

However, some crimes increased in volume last year:
"The drop in crime was seen throughout the country and for most offences, including attempted murders, major assaults, sexual assaults, robberies, break-ins and motor vehicle thefts."
"Offences that showed an increase in 2011 were homicide, sexual offences against children, child pornography, criminal harassment, impaired driving and most drug offences."

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:01 pm 0 comments

Monday, July 23, 2012

Three Years of the Google Book Settlement

Walt Crawford devotes the entire August 2012 issue of his Cites & Insights publication to what happened to the proposed Google Book Settlement.

Google has been digitizing millions of books to create a massive online library / bookstore but the plans ran into legal difficulties when US author and publisher groups launched a copyright violation lawsuit against the search giant. A proposed settlement was rejected by the courts:
"Now? The settlement (modified) is dead: The judge struck it down as being unfair. Most of those who were commenting on it (including me) really didn’t deal with what turned out to be the core issue: You can’t substantially transform copyright law by settling a class action lawsuit."
"We are, in some ways, back to square one after the better part of a decade. There will assuredly be more developments over the next (year? five years? decade?), but given the clear death of the settlement itself, I thought this would be a good time to update the situation (...)"
"This is a long set of notes and comments (cites & insights). It strikes me that the topic and complexity deserve that length—but note that I’m offering much briefer excerpts and comments on most items than I normally would in this sort of roundup."
"After two sets of general notes and overviews (one before the settlement was rejected, one after) I’m breaking the discussion down by topics rather than chronologically."
Some of the topics Crawford covers include monopoly and antitrust; privacy and confidentiality; the public domain, open access, copyright; libraries and metadata; authors and publishers.

Earlier Library Boy posts about the Google Book Settlement include:


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posted by Michel-Adrien at 8:00 pm 0 comments

Saturday, July 21, 2012

OCLC Report on Regional Print Mega-Collections

OCLC, the library research and services corporation based in Dublin, Ohio, has published a report on Print Management at "Mega-scale": A Regional Perspective on Print Book Collections in North America:
"The future of print book collections has received much attention, as libraries consider strategies to manage down print while transitioning to digital alternatives. The opportunity for collaboration is a recurring theme in these discussions. The OCLC Research report Cloud- sourcing Research Collections: Managing Print in the Mass-digitized Library Environment (Malpas 2011) considers the prospects for shifting the locus of print book management models from local collections to regionally-consolidated shared collections  (...)"
"A key question is the nature of the consolidated regional collections themselves—what would they look like? How similar or dissimilar would they be? Taken together, would the regional collections constitute a system of similar print book aggregations duplicated in different geographical regions, or would each collection represent a relatively unique component of the broader, system-wide
print book corpus? These and other questions are relevant to a variety of broader issues, including mass digitization, resource sharing, and preservation (...)"
"Investigating the characteristics of a system of regionally-consolidated shared print book collections requires two elements: a model of regional consolidation, and data to support analysis of collections within that framework. This paper employs the mega-regions framework for the first and the WorldCat bibliographic database for the second. Mega-regions are geographical regions defined on the basis of economic integration and other forms of interdependence. The mega-regions framework has the benefit of basing consolidation on a substantive underpinning of shared traditions, mutual interests, and the needs of an overlapping constituency."
"This report explores a counterfactual scenario where local US and Canadian print book collections are consolidated into regional shared collections based on the mega-regions framework. We begin by briefly reviewing the conclusions from the Cloud-sourcing report, and then present a simple framework that organizes the landscape of print book collection consolidation models and distinguishes the basic assumptions underpinning the Cloud-sourcing report and the present report. We then introduce the mega-regions framework, and use WorldCat data to construct twelve mega-regional consolidated print book collections. Analysis of the regional collections is synthesized into a set of stylized facts describing their salient characteristics, as well as key cross-regional relationships among the collections. The stylized facts motivate a number of key implications regarding access, management, preservation, and other topics considered in the context of a network of regionally consolidated print book collections."


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posted by Michel-Adrien at 5:19 pm 0 comments

Thursday, July 19, 2012

English Law Commission Project on Defences of Insanity and Automatism

The Law Commission of England has published what it calls a scoping paper on insanity and automatism:
"When should a person not be criminally liable because of their mental condition at the time they committed an alleged offence? This is the question posed by what is called the defence of 'insanity'. "
"Similarly, a person might not be criminally liable because they lacked conscious control of their actions at the time of committing the alleged offence for a reason other than their mental condition. This might amount to a defence of 'sane automatis'" under the current law."
"The current rules that govern the insanity defence (also referred to as 'insane automatism') date from 1843. They have been widely criticised for a number of reasons: 
  • it is not clear whether the defence of insanity is even available in all cases
  • the law lags behind psychiatric understanding, and this partly explains why, in practice, the defence is underused and medical professionals do not apply the correct legal test
  • the label of “insane” is outdated as a description of those with mental illness, and simply wrong as regards those who have learning disabilities or learning difficulties, or those with epilepsy
  • the case law on insane and non-insane automatism is incoherent and produces results that run counter to common-sense (...)"
"When we have considered the responses to this scoping paper we will consider how best to take the project forward to ensure that the law in practice is fit for purpose in the 21st century and reflects the changing approach to people with mental illness."
The accompanying material looks at the situation of the law in England and Wales as well as in other jurisdictions, such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, Hong Kong, India, the US, Scotland, South Africa and Northern Ireland.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 5:53 pm 0 comments

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

English Canadian Lawyers Missing Out on Quebec Decisions

The listserv of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries often has messages from members looking for English translations of Quebec court rulings.

Yesterday's Financial Post had an article entitled Court decisions may be lost in translation that explains some of the potential consequences when lawyers in the rest of Canada do not have access to Quebec rulings.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 6:12 pm 0 comments

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Comparative Law Resources on Class Actions

Lyonette Louis-Jacques from the University of Chicago Law School has written a piece on Slaw.ca on The Rise (And Fall?) of Class Actions: Comparative Law Resources.

In it, she identifies the sources of information for researching the laws of different jurisdictions pertaining  to class actions.

This includes primary legislation, research guides, organizations, conferences, databases, journals and blogs.

She also provides a select bibliography on the subject.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 8:08 pm 0 comments

Monday, July 16, 2012

Library of Parliament Legislative Summary of Bill C-15 on Military Justice

The Library of Parliament recently made available its legislative summary of Bill C-15, the Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act:
"Bill C-15, An Act to amend the National Defence Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts (short title: Strengthening Military Justice in the Defence of Canada Act), was introduced in the House of Commons on 7 October 2011 by the Minister of National Defence (...)"
"Overall, Bill C-15 responds to many of the recommendations made by the Right Honourable Antonio Lamer, former Chief Justice of Canada, in his 2003 report on the first independent review of amendments made to the NDA in 1998 under the former Bill C-25 (Lamer Report)."

"The amendments set out in Bill C-15 clarify the amendments introduced by the former Bill C-25. While Bill C-15 makes the military justice system more consistent with the justice system established in the Criminal Code, it also takes into account the unique nature of the military justice system, and therefore aims to provide a degree of flexibility, needed for maintaining discipline. The bill aims to enhance the effectiveness of the military justice system and provides greater independence and impartiality for the key players in that system, in particular military judges and the Director of Defence Counsel Services."
"Bill C-15 was introduced into the House of Commons on the same day as Bill C-16, the Security of Tenure of Military Judges Act, which provides security of tenure for military judges until a fixed age of 60 years, subject only to removal for cause on the recommendation of an Inquiry Committee. Bill C-16 received Royal Assent on 29 November 2011."
 It is possible to follow the progress of the bill through Parliament on the LEGISinfo website.

 On Library Boy, there is a post from February 8, 2012 on the related Bill C-16, the Security of Tenure of Military Judges Act.


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posted by Michel-Adrien at 8:17 pm 0 comments

Sunday, July 15, 2012

UK Government to Implement Law Commission Report on Adult Social Care

I post frequently about the work of various law reform commissions in Canada and abroad. I sometimes receive e-mails asking whether these commissions ever have any real impact.

In fact, many of them do and I was informed of a very recent example just a few days ago.

Last week, the UK government issued a draft bill that incorporates many of the recommendations of the English Law Commission's work on adult social care. A report was published by the Commission in 2011.

The government's response to the Law Commission report as well as the draft bill can be found on the UK Department of Health website.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 3:41 pm 0 comments

Updated Canadian Law Blogs Search

Slaw.ca has updated the search engine that powers its Canadian Law Blogs Search.

As Simon Fodden writes:
"It now searches all 359 glorious Canadian law blogs listed in Stem Legal's Lawblogs.ca."
Library Boy is on the list.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 3:28 pm 0 comments

Thursday, July 12, 2012

SLA 2012 Chicago Conference Program and Handouts

The 2012 annual conference of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) begins this weekend in Chicago. SLA is an international association of information professionals with members in dozens of countries, including Canada.

The conference program as well as many presentation handouts are available online (available presentations are posted as links for each session).

SLA has a very active Legal Division.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:24 pm 0 comments

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

July/August 2012 Issue of LawNow Looks at Corporate Social Responsibility

The most recent issue of LawNow Magazine takes a look at corporate social responsibility.

Feature articles examine corruption, the complexity in determining what is and what is not corporate social responsibility, as well as three (3) cases: the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon disaster, Calgary-based Niko Resources (bribery case in Bangladesh) and Chevron's legal battles over environmental destruction in the Ecuadorian Amazon region.

Here is the full table of contents.

[Source: Blogosaurus Lex (Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta)]


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posted by Michel-Adrien at 6:50 pm 0 comments

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

New Website for Canadian Judicial Council

The Canadian Judicial Council recently launched a new website.

There are explanations on how the Canadian judiciary works, publications on judicial ethics, as well as summaries of how complaints against federally appointed judges have been handled in the past.

The Council is a federal body created under the Judges Act  with the mandate to promote efficiency, uniformity, and accountability in the superior courts of Canada. The Council is also mandated to review any complaint or allegation against a superior court judge. 

It is chaired by the Chief Justice of Canada, the Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin.  There are 38 other Council members, who are the chief justices and associate chief justices of Canada’s superior courts, the senior judges of the territorial courts, and the Chief Justice of the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 6:07 pm 0 comments

Canadian Human Rights Commission Report on Equality Rights for People With Disabilities

The Commission Human Rights Commission has released a Report on Equality Rights of People with Disabilities.

The report compares Canadians with disabilities to those without disabilities across a spectrum of indicators, such as education, employment, economic well-being, health, and housing. Data comes from Statistics Canada surveys.

When compared to other adults, adults with disabilities: 
  • are half as likely to complete a university degree
  • are more likely to settle for part-time instead of full time employment
  • and have lower annual incomes 
The Commission hopes that the report will provide a benchmark that will help track progress and identify barriers to equality for people with disabilities.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 6:02 pm 0 comments

Monday, July 09, 2012

U.S. Supreme Court 2011-2012 Term Highlights

The Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell Law School has posted an article outlining the major decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States for the 2011-2012 term.

From the introduction:
"The 2011-2012 Supreme Court Term marks the first time in three years that there was not a new justice on the bench. Although the Court was unanimous on several fronts, many times it split along ideological lines: Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito on the right, and Justices Ruth Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan on the left, with Justice Anthony Kennedy as the swing vote. The 5-4 party line votes leave many wondering if the Court is above politics and illustrate the importance of partisan and ideological divides on the Court. This isn’t to say that the Court always divides along ideological lines, but it sometimes achieves unanimity by avoiding the important substantive issue, like in F.C.C. v. Fox Television Stations, where the Court avoided a decision on First Amendment rights by deciding that there was lack of fair notice. Yet under Chief Justice Roberts’ guidance, the Court has looked past labels and legacy to interpret laws as constitutionally as it can."
"The Court came under increasing scrutiny from the media and public as it agreed to hear pivotal cases on polarizing political and social issues, which could even affect the upcoming 2012 Presidential Election. In the tumultuous final week of the 2011-2012 Term, the Court determined 'campaign issues' such as illegal immigration (Arizona v. US, where Arizona’s controversial immigration law was mostly held unconstitutional) and health care (Congress’s Taxing Power upheld the Affordable Care Act individual mandate)."
"Yet, despite the headliner cases, the Court’s heavy docket included rulings equally deserving of attention that continue to shape constitutional rights and procedural issues, such as search and seizure, the right to counsel, intellectual property rights, and government immunity."


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posted by Michel-Adrien at 9:03 pm 0 comments

Saturday, July 07, 2012

Annual Report of the Nova Scotia Law Reform Commission

The Law Reform Commission of Nova Scotia has released its 2012 annual report covering its activities for the period of April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012.

The Commission's job is to review the laws of Nova Scotia and to make recommendations for improvement, modernization and reform. This may involve either formulating new ideas and approaches to law, or proposing ways in which existing laws and the legal system can be made clearer or simpler so they can better serve the needs of the general public.

Last year, the Commission worked on a range of topics, including:
  • seniors-only housing
  • enforcement of civil judgments
  • builders' liens
  • modernization of powers of attorney
  • modernization of the Matrimonial Property Act

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:24 pm 0 comments

Quebec Gazette Now Available for Free Online

The Gazette officielle du Québec is now freely available online.

It is the official publication in which the Quebec government publishes new statutes, regulations and official announcements.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:17 pm 0 comments

CanLII Video Tutorials

CanLII, the Canadian Legal Information Institute that provides free access to Canadian legal materials, asked Université de Sherbrooke law student Ryan Sanft to create video tutorials on how to search its many collections.

There are videos on:
  • Ranking and refining search results
  • Using RSS feeds to stay current
  • Introduction to note-up and the RefLex record
  • Introduction to advanced and database searching 


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posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:11 pm 0 comments

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Canadian Bar Association Administers Proust Questionnaire to Eugene Meehan, Q.C

In the July 2012 issue of Intra Vires, the newsletter of the administrative law section of the Canadian Bar Association, Eugene Meehan, Q.C. answers a modified version of the Proust Questionnaire:
"Welcome to our version of the Proust Questionnaire, a form of interview which is designed to reveal something about the tastes and aspirations of the taker. We have modified the format to expose aspects relating to the vocation of law. We are lucky in this issue to have convinced Eugene Meehan, Q.C., to answer the questions in his inimitable way. Eugene is well known for his advocacy before the Supreme Court of Canada and has many opportunities to be witty in his own newsletter, SupremeAdvocacyLett@r. "
The New York magazine Vanity Fair subjects celebrities to the Proust Questionnaire on the back page of each issue. And, of course, from author Marcel Proust himself.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 6:20 pm 1 comments

Wednesday, July 04, 2012

July 2012 Issue of Quebec Bar Association Journal

The July 2012 issue of the Journal du Barreau, the monthly publication of the Quebec Bar Association is available online.

Among other things, it includes extensive coverage of the Association's recent annual meeting in Quebec City.

Material is in French.


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posted by Michel-Adrien at 6:06 pm 0 comments

Alberta Law Reform Institute Final Report on Joint Ventures

The Alberta Law Reform Institute has released its final report on joint ventures:
"Joint ventures by business entities have  become increasingly common and increasingly important to the economic life of Canada and other countries. They are prevalent in the construction industry for large projects such as dams, road works and public buildings. They are often used in the energy industry to provide efficiencies in the development of oil and gas properties. They are also used for smaller undertakings such as the development of a small subdivision. However, while the joint venture has developed, the legal landscape in which it operates has not developed to accommodate it. In particular, a joint venture is at risk of being categorized for legal purposes as a partnership and thus subject to a Partnership Act first adopted in 1896 and to common law that has developed over the centuries. There is thus a lack of fit between the applicable law on the one hand and the exigencies of present-day joint ventures on the other hand. This lack of fit results in a degree of uncertainty which has not necessarily been removed even if joint ventures have attempted to assert their status clearly. "
"The purpose of this report is to recommend legislative reform to clarify the lack of certainty by allowing a joint venture to take itself out of the law relating to partnership. To do so it would have to meet two requirements – declare in writing that it is not a partnership and carry on business under a name that includes 'Joint Venture' or 'JV'. A joint venture that meets these conditions would effectively take itself out of the law applicable to partnerships. This aspect of our recommendations would clarify the law relating to the relationships among joint venturers. The second aspect of our recommendations would clarify the law relating to the relationship between a joint venture and third parties. We do this by simplifying and redefining the basis of liability between the joint venturers and third parties. Finally, we set out the timing and effects of how a new or existing joint venture might meet these requirements. "
There is more background on the Commission's joint ventures project on its website.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 6:00 pm 0 comments

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

June 2012 Issue of Legal Information Management on Sports Law

The most recent issue of Legal Information Management, a journal of the British and Irish Association of Law Libraries, is devoted to the Olympics and sports law.

From the editorial:
"The opening article, by Jack Anderson of Queens' University Belfast, defines the subject of sports law and argues that, in the truest sense, it has ‘arrived’ as a legal entity and an academic discipline. Mark James and Guy Osburn jointly discuss the legal status of the Olympic Charter and its interpretation by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. They also look at the impact of UK legislation in the context of the London Olympics. Simon Boyes reviews the literature in the field of sports law and traces its development to the current day. Esther Cho, of the John Wolff Comparative & International Law Library at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC, offers an essential, and detailed, research guide to the legal resources relating Olympic and international sports law."
"Meanwhile, Peter Charlish, of Sheffield Hallam University, tackles that most controversial, and often high profile, issue that affects sport, including the Olympics; the use of drugs. Away from the Olympics, Jonathan Morgan writes an insightful piece on The Jockey Club and judicial review and John Eaton, Librarian and Associate Professor of Law at the University of Manitoba, takes a look at gender equality in that most traditionally masculine of sports – Canadian ice hockey."
Earlier Library Boy posts that discuss sports and the law include:
  • New Law Library Journal Articles (September 6, 2006): "We have just received Law Library Journal vol. 98, no. 3 (Summer 2006) at the Supreme Court of Canada library. Among the articles that caught my attention: (...) Exploring the Court of Arbitration for Sport: 'The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), recognized as an emerging leader in international sports dispute resolution, was created specifically to address sports-related matters. Since its formation, the CAS has addressed a wide range of sports-related issues, including matters pertaining to the positive drug tests of athletes, the challenges to technical decisions of officials made during competition, and the eligibility of athletes to compete in the Olympic Games. Of significance, CAS awards have been recognized as developing a lex sportiva, that is, a set of guiding principles and rules in international sports law'. " 
  • New Internet Research Guide for Olympic Studies (April 2, 2008): "Intute, a British university consortium that offers free online service access to evaluated web resources for education and research, has just published a new subject booklet entitled 'Internet resources for Olympic studies'. The booklet describes resources relating to associations, the history of the Olympic Games, past and future Games, athletes, sports research, event management, and legal issues (arbitration of sports disputes, disability sports, gender equity and doping)." 
  • Law and the Olympics (January 6, 2010): "Blogosaurus Lex, the blog from the Legal Resource Centre of Alberta, had a post in December on Law and the Olympics."
  • Updated Research Guide on International Sports Law (August 31, 2011): "The GlobaLex collection at the New York University School of Law has just updated its International Sports Law research guide. It looks at the key institutions governing international sports (...) There are sections on doping, women and sports, violence as well as suggested sports law bibliographies, databases and periodicals."

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:38 pm 0 comments

Library of Parliament Publication on Proposed Federal Securities Regulator - Part 2

This is a follow-up to the Library Boy post of June 19, 2012 entitled Library of Parliament Publication on Proposed Federal Securities Regulator.

The Library of Parliament recently published the second part of its document on federal securities law, Proposed Federal Securities Regulator 2. Constitutional Aspects:
"In May 2010, as part of its proposal to create a federal securities regulator, the federal government brought to the Supreme Court of Canada the Reference re Securities Act. This was the most recent in numerous efforts over the years to study the possibility of establishing a federal securities regulator. With the stated aim 'to provide legal certainty to the provinces, territories and market participants,' the government asked the Court to make a determination on the following question: 'Is the annexed Proposed Canadian Securities Act within the legislative authority of the Parliament of Canada'?"
"In December 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that the Securities Act proposed by the government is not valid because it does not fall under any power vested in the Parliament of Canada by the Constitution."
"This publication, which analyzes the constitutional aspects of that decision, contains two parts: a summary of the Supreme Court’s opinion, and a description of some reactions to the opinion."

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 7:11 pm 0 comments