Legal research news from an Ottawa law librarian
The March/April 2022 issue of AALL Spectrum is now available online.
It is a publication of the American Association of Law Libraries.
This issue has a series of feature articles on student training and outreach and on legal tech education.
Labels: current awareness, law libraries, library associations, library instruction
The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. has provided some background information about Ketanji Brown Jackson, the American President's nominee to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States:
"On January 27, 2022, Justice Stephen Breyer announced his intention to retire. In a letter to the President (PDF), Justice Breyer wrote that he intended for his retirement 'to take effect when the Court rises for the summer recess this year (typically late June or early July) assuming that by then my successor has been nominated and confirmed.' President Biden announced his 'intent to nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court' on February 25, 2022. Judge Jackson's nomination was President BIden's first U.S. Supreme Court nomination; she is the first Black woman to be nominated to the high court. The Senate Judiciary Committee will soon begin its hearings process for judicial nominees, and this page will be updated as more information becomes available. In the meantime, researchers may review the resources below to learn about Judge Jackson, including a brief biography, articles by and about her, judicial opinions she has authored, congressional hearings testimony, and more."
Labels: courts, government_USA
The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is hosting a webinar on March 9 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM on Meaning Making: Student Action and Indigenous Legal Education:
"Student research, advocacy, negotiation and hard work are widening our views about what at times seems impossible - respecting Indigenous peoples’ aspirations within and beyond Canada’s legal frameworks. This work is slowly gaining momentum as students shed greater light on our collective past, present and future. In the process, this impacts society as a whole, as student ideas and research spreads beyond universities through their work. This seminar will address how Canadian legal education is responding to these processes."
The speaker is Dr. John Borrows, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law at the University of Victoria Law School.
The event is free for CALL members. Students pay $15.00 plus applicable taxes, non-members $50.00 plus applicable taxes.
Labels: aboriginal and Indigenous law, continuing education, library associations
GlobaLex, a very good electronic collection created by the Hauser Global Law School Program at the New York University School of Law, has published and updated a number of research guides recently:
Labels: administrative law, comparative and foreign law, employment law, international organizations, legal research and writing, privacy
Susannah Tredwell, Manager of Library Services at DLA Piper (Canada) LLP in Vancouver, recently published a new SlawTips column on the Canadian legal website Slaw.ca about Finding Older Newspaper Articles.
It is something all law librarians are asked to do from time to time.
Labels: legal research and writing
Last week, Statistics Canada published 2 articles on the experiences of Black and Indigenous Canadians:
"The everyday experiences and perceptions of Indigenous and Black people in Canada differ from those of the non-Indigenous, non-visible minority people in many ways. Recently, social movements seeking racial and social equity in response to injustice—both current and historical—have demonstrated the importance of measuring and monitoring the perceptions and experiences of diverse populations. In particular, inequities among First Nations people, Métis, Inuit, and racialized groups regarding public safety measures, victimization, and the criminal justice system have been a key focus."
"Two Juristat articles, released today, contain detailed analysis of the perceptions and self-reported experiences of diverse populations in Canada, with a particular focus on Black and Indigenous people ..."
Labels: human rights, police, statistics
This is an update to yesterday's post entitled Analysis of the Anti-Vaccine Mandate Protests.
The Library of Parliament has published an explanation of The Emergencies Act: Parliament’s Role During a National Emergency:
"On 14 February 2022, in response to the ongoing blockades and protests taking place in Ottawa and at some border crossings, the Prime Minister announced that the Governor in Council had invoked the Emergencies Act, giving the federal government certain temporary powers."
"The Emergencies Act sets out the procedure by which a national emergency can be declared and by which the declaration can be confirmed, continued, amended and revoked. It also provides for a supervisory role for Parliament."
"This HillNote provides some background information about this Act and explains the role of Parliament during a national emergency."
Labels: constitutional law, criminal law, government of Canada, Library of Parliament
Here are a few articles and podcasts to help understand the legal measures adopted to put a halt to the anti-vaccine mandate occupation of downtown Ottawa that ended last weekend.
Labels: constitutional law, criminal law, litigation
The February 2022 issue of In Session is available online.
It is the monthly e-newsletter of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) and contains news from CALL committees and special interest groups, member updates and events.
Labels: current awareness, law libraries, library associations
Slaw.ca has published a boom review by a colleague of mine, Krisandra Ivings.
It is about the book The Justice Crisis: The Cost and Value of Accessing Law.
The Canadian Law Library Review, the journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries, has been supplying Slaw.ca with book reviews on a regular basis.
Labels: access to justice, books
The Law Reform Commission of Ireland has started a consultation process to look into how victims of violent crime are compensated.
As part of the exercice, it has issued a Consultation Paper.
It covers:
Labels: criminal law, government_Ireland, law commissions
The Canadian government recently published a report of the independent commission to consider wrongful conviction applications.
The report was submitted to the Minister of Justice by the Honourable Harry LaForme and the Honourable Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré in November 2021.
Consultations focused on the creation of an independent commission in Canada to consider miscarriage of justice applications. The report summarizes the input received during the consultations on various reform options and provides recommendations on the path forward.
As the Executive Summary explains:
"The current system has failed to provide remedies for women, Indigenous or Black people in the same proportion as they are represented in Canada’s prisons. We believe that the new commission must be proactive and reach out to potential applicants, including Indigenous people, Black people, women and others who may have reasons to distrust a criminal justice system that had convicted them and denied their appeals (...)"
"The new commission must be systemic in the sense that it should be concerned about both the correction of miscarriages of justice and their prevention. Like the New Zealand Commission, the commission should make its decisions public and have a mandate to examine and research general matters that contribute to miscarriages of justice (...) "
"The second fundamental policy choice is that the commission should be as independent and arm’s-length from government as possible and adequately funded. In taking over the Minister of Justice’s power to direct new trials and appeals, the independent commission will exercise unique powers. If it is to have the power to require the independent judiciary to re-hear cases, it should be treated by government as far as possible in the same manner as the independent judiciary (...)"
"A final fundamental policy choice is that the new commission should be concerned with all miscarriages of justice and not only cases where factual innocence can be established. Proof of factual innocence is often not possible in non-DNA cases. Most convictions including many wrongful convictions of women and less serious cases do not involve DNA. We recognize that factual innocence is very important to exonerees and Innocence Projects. Nevertheless, we do not believe that the commission should be limited by the approach taken by voluntary and poorly funded organizations."
"The current Ministerial review regime focuses on whether a miscarriage of justice likely occurred and can include applications related to dangerous and long-term offender designations. We recommend that this mandate be continued and extended somewhat to include other cases where applicants are serving a sentence and raise new matters of significance. This is a more restrictive sentencing mandate than the English, Scottish and New Zealand Commissions, but one we believe is justified and manageable."
Labels: comparative and foreign law, criminal law, government of Canada
The Manitoba Law Reform Commission has issued a consultation paper on The Law of Partition and Sale:
"When co-owners of Manitoba land need or want to terminate their co-ownership, but they cannot agree on the dissolution of their co-ownership, ss. 18-26 of The Law of Property Act provide them with two potential remedies: partition, a judicial order physically dividing the co-owned property between the co-owners, and sale, a judicial order of sale of the co-owned property and division of the proceeds of sale between the co-owners (...)"
"Sections 18-26 of The Law of Property Act outline some of the key components of partition and sale proceedings; namely, the major actors and their rights under the Act, the powers of the Court in conducting partition or sale proceedings, and the duties owed by the Court to the various actors in the process. The major actors in partition and sale proceedings include individuals bringing the action for partition or sale of land, individuals who may be compelled to make partition or sale of land , and other individuals who are not necessarily parties to the action, but who have some type of interest in the land that is the subject of the action (“subject land”). In addition to delineating the rights of these individuals, ss. 18-26 of the Act set out the powers of the Court and the duties it owes to these actors in various unique circumstances (...)"
"In this Paper, the Commission contemplates whether the current version of ss. 18-26 of The Law of Property Act and the complementary QB Rules adequately address the partition and sale of land in Manitoba, or whether these sections and rules are in need of reform. Specifically, the Commission contemplates whether the Act or Rules require further specification, elaboration, modernization or simplification to better reflect the current realities of Manitoba and to better guide and support Manitobans through an inherently complicated legal process. In particular, the Commission contemplates whether the Act and Rules should be amended to more clearly address who can bring action for and who may be compelled to make partition or sale of land in Manitoba, and to touch upon additional unique circumstances in which partition or sale proceedings may be brought, such as where encumbrance holders are involved, where parties have contracted out of the right to apply for partition and sale, where dispositions are pending in parallel proceedings under other Acts, etc."
The paper examines legislation and court tules on the issue in the other provinces of Canada as well as the relevant Canadian case law.
Labels: comparative and foreign law, government_Manitoba, law commissions, property law
The Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission have published a joint report on automated vehicles.
The report into self-driving cars comes after 3 rounds of extensive consultations.
Recommendations cover approval and authorisation of self-driving vehicles, ongoing monitoring of their performance while they are on the road, misleading marketing, and both criminal and civil liability.
They include:
Labels: civil liability, criminal law, government_Scotland, law commissions, transportation, UK
The Alberta Law Reform Institute recently released a report on Family Maintenance and Support from the Estate of a Person Who Stood in the Place of a Parent:
"Family Maintenance and Support from the Estate of a Person Who Stood in the Place of a Parent, Final Report 117 recommends that the Wills and Succession Act be reformed to allow a child to apply for family maintenance and support from the estate of a person who stood in the place of a parent (...)"
"This recommendation would close a gap in the law about child support. A child may apply for support from a person standing in the place of a parent while the person is alive, but not after the person’s death. ALRI has concluded that children should be able to apply for support in both situations. ALRI recommendations are based on widespread consultation including three online surveys targeted at the general public ..."
"ALRI’s recommendations would make the Wills and Succession Act consistent with other provincial legislation that provides benefits to a child with a person standing in the place of a parent, like the Family Law Act, the Fatal Accidents Act, and the Workers’ Compensation Act."
Labels: family law, government_Alberta, law commissions, wills and estates
The Manitoba Law Reform Commission has published a report on Presumed Consent Organ & Tissue Donation:
The report includes comparisons of the situation in other Canadian provinces as well as foreign jurisdictions such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Spain."Each year, thousands of Canadians find themselves on waitlists to receive donations of vital organs, including kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs, and pancreases. However, there is a gap between the number of organs and tissues needed by Canadians and the number of organs and tissues available for donation and transplantation. Accordingly, governments continue to explore ways in which to maximize the availability of organs and tissues for transplantation, to ensure the loss of fewer Canadians to donation systems that are unable to support them."
"One such method, which has already gained traction in a number of jurisdictions outside of Canada, and which, as of January 2021, has been introduced in Nova Scotia, is the implementation of a legislative system of “presumed consent” or “opt-out” organ and tissue donation. Under such a system, when there is no record of a person’s decision on organ and tissue donation, their consent will be considered, under law, to have been given. This type of system differs from all other current Canadian organ and tissue donation systems, including Manitoba’s, which maintain “express consent” or “opt-in” systems of organ and tissue donation. Under these “express consent” or “optin” systems, legislation requires the explicit consent of donors for the use of any parts of their bodies after death for therapeutic purposes, medical education or scientific research. Under The Human Tissue Gift Act (“HTGA”), Manitoba’s current organ and tissue donation legislation, as under all analogous Canadian legislation aside from Nova Scotia’s, individuals will not be candidates for after-death organ or tissue donation without this express consent (...)"
"The Manitoba Law Reform Commission (the “Commission”) has considered how the HTGA should be amended if the government were to decide to switch from an express consent to a presumed consent statutory organ and tissue donation framework. Accordingly, the Commission takes no position in this Report on whether or not to recommend the enactment of such legislation, but on what elements ought to be included in such legislation if it were to be implemented, and how these elements should be crafted."
Labels: comparative and foreign law, government_Manitoba, health law, law commissions
Last week, US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announced he would retire at the end of the current term.
American President Joe Biden stated that he intends to quickly announce his nominee to replace Breyer.
For people interested in the process, the Congressional Research Service has updated its guide on the Supreme Court Appointment Process: President’s Selection of a Nominee:"The appointment of a Supreme Court Justice is an event of major significance in American politics. Each appointment is of consequence because of the enormous judicial power the Supreme Court exercises as the highest appellate court in the federal judiciary. Appointments are usually infrequent, as a vacancy on the nine-member Court may occur only once or twice, or never at all, during a particular President’s years in office. Under the Constitution, Justices on the Supreme Court receive what can amount to lifetime appointments which, by constitutional design, helps ensure the Court’s independence from the President and Congress."
"The procedure for appointing a Justice is provided for by the Constitution in only a few words. The “Appointments Clause” (Article II, Section 2, clause 2) states that the President “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint ... Judges of the supreme Court.” The process of appointing Justices has undergone changes over two centuries, but its most basic feature—the sharing of power between the President and Senate—has remained unchanged: To receive appointment to the Court, a candidate must first be nominated by the President and then confirmed by the Senate. Political considerations typically play an important role in Supreme Court appointments. It is often assumed, for example, that Presidents will be inclined to select a nominee whose political or ideological views appear compatible with their own."
"The political nature of the appointment process becomes especially apparent when a President submits a nominee with controversial views, there are sharp partisan or ideological differences between the President and the Senate, or the outcome of important constitutional issues before the Court is seen to be at stake."
"Additionally, over more than two centuries, a recurring theme in the Supreme Court appointment process has been the assumed need for professional excellence in a nominee. During recent presidencies, nominees have at the time of nomination, most often, served as U.S. appellate court judges. The integrity and impartiality of an individual have also been important criteria for a President when selecting a nominee for the Court."
"The speed by which a President selects a nominee for a vacancy has varied during recent presidencies. A President might announce his intention to nominate a particular individual within several days of when a vacancy becomes publicly known, or a President might take multiple weeks or months to announce a nominee. The factors affecting the speed by which a President selects a nominee include whether a President had advance notice of a Justice’s plan to retire, as well as when during the calendar year a Justice announces his or her departure from the Court."
The Congressional Research Service, based in Washington D.C., is a US federal government agency that conducts research for the US Congress.
Labels: courts, government_USA
Law library blogaliciousness from Ottawa since 2005. Accept no substitutes.
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As Michel de Montaigne would say, "Je vais au change indiscrètement et tumultuairement - mon style et mon esprit vont vagabondant de même" (Essais, III, 9, De la vanité): I go where my fancy leads me, but my fancy always leads back to the law