Canada's Two Solitudes: Constitutional and International Law in Reference re Secession of Quebec

1999 ◽  
Vol 6 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 65-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
French Language ◽  
Supreme Court Of Canada ◽  
Pierre Trudeau ◽  
The Past ◽  
French And English ◽  
History Of ◽  
Varied Range

AbstractThis article begins by examining two different perspectives on the accommodation of Quebec and the French fact in Canada. The first, exemplified by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, emphasised equality of the French and English languages across Canada. The second approach, adopted by Trudeau's contemporary René Lévesque, Prime Minister of Quebec, focused on the province of Quebec, and the state of the French language there. The second part of the article recounts the history of Quebec in Canada, emphasising throughout the varied range of legal and political accommodation that has occurred over the years. This section concludes with a brief description of the constitutional falling out between Quebec and Canada which has occurred over the past twenty or so years. The article concludes with a detailed analysis of the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision in Reference re Secession of Quebec. This case is especially important for the way in which it mixes cons iderations of international law and domestic constitutional law. The author concludes by asserting that the survival and strength of the French fact in Canada is dependent upon a strong Quebec; and that a strong Quebec must show corresponding respect and recognition for its own minorities: aboriginal, anglophone and other.

scholarly journals The meaning of Moscow: “Non-lethal” weapons and international law in the early 21st century

2005 ◽  
Vol 87 (859) ◽  
pp. 525-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P. Fidler
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Terrorist Attack ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Early 21St Century

AbstractAt the intersection of new weapon technologies and international humanitarian law, so-called “non-lethal” weapons have become an area of particular interest. This article analyses the relationship between “non-lethal” weapons and international law in the early 21st century by focusing on the most seminal incident to date in the short history of the “non-lethal” weapons debate, the use of an incapacitating chemical to end a terrorist attack on a Moscow theatre in October 2002. This tragic incident has shown that rapid technological change will continue to stress international law on the development and use of weaponry but in ways more politically charged, legally complicated and ethically challenging than the application of international humanitarian law in the past.

Recent research in the history of international law

2016 ◽  
Vol 84 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 313-334
Author(s):  
Frederik Dhondt
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Law ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Global History ◽  
Intercultural Awareness ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Legal Thinking ◽  
History Of International Law ◽  
Interdisciplinary Scholarship

This review article treats the booming scholarship on the history of international law over the past decade. Works with a broader view (1), including the recent big-book syntheses and collective works, are contrasted with monographs (2), from studies of treaties and doctrine, over diplomatic practice to scholarship by historians and, finally, interdisciplinary scholarship. This texts provides a personal panorama of the wide array of scholarly perspectives on a common object: rules recognised in the community or society of states. New insights from history and social sciences, especially the turn to global history, open fresh prospects for ‘traditional’ legal historical research. Studying the encounter between ‘European’ international law and other continents rises our indispensable intercultural awareness. Yet, it should also serve to better understand the specificity of European legal thinking or diplomatic practice, and does not render research on the latter obsolete or redundant.


scholarly journals Natives, Subjects, Consumers: Notes on Continuities and Transformations in Indian Masculine Cultures

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Sanjay Srivastava
Keyword(s):  
Prime Minister ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Economic Planning ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media

<div><p>This article explores recent histories of masculine cultures in India. The discussion proceeds through outlining the most significant sites of the making of masculinity discourses during the colonial, the immediate post-colonial as well as the contemporary period. The immediate present is explored through an investigation of the the media persona of India's current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Through constructing a narrative of Indian modernity that draws upon diverse contexts -- such as colonial discourses about natives, anti-colonial nationalism, and post-colonial discourses of economic planning, 'liberalization' and consumerism -- the article illustrates the multiple locations of masculinity politics. Further, the exploration of relationships between economic, political and social contexts also seeks to blur the boundaries between them, thereby initiating a methodological dialogue regarding the study of masculinities.  The article also seeks to point out that while there are continuities between the (colonial) past and the (post-colonial) present, the manner in which the past is utilised for the purposes of the present relates to performances and contexts in the present. Finally, the article suggests there is no linear history of masculinity, rather that the uses of the past in the present allow us to understand the prolix and circular ways in which the present is constituted. </p></div>

scholarly journals Assessing the responsibilities of the United Kingdom and Mauritius towards the Chagossians under international law

Afrika Focus ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-57
Author(s):  
Darsheenee Raumnauth ◽  
Roopanand Mahadew
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Essential Condition ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
History Of ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
Colonial Master

This article reviews the obligations under international law of the United Kingdom and Mauritius towards the Chagossians. With the detachment of Chagos from Mauritius as an essential condition for the independence of Mauritius from the British colonial master, the Chagossians have, over the past four decades, endured enormous human rights violations . This article assesses the responsibility of the two states vis-à-vis the Chagossians. A comprehensive factual account is first presented to clarify understanding of the history of Chagos. The legal framework is then analysed to assess the responsibility of each state, before a number of recommendations are made.

scholarly journals Assessing the responsibilities of the United Kingdom and Mauritius towards the Chagossians under international law

Afrika Focus ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Darsheenee Raumnauth ◽  
Roopanand Mahadew
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Essential Condition ◽  
The Past ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
History Of ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
Colonial Master

This article reviews the obligations under international law of the United Kingdom and Mauritius towards the Chagossians. With the detachment of Chagos from Mauritius as an essential condition for the independence of Mauritius from the British colonial master, the Chagossians have, over the past four decades, endured enormous human rights violations. This article assesses the responsibility of the two states vis-à-vis the Chagossians. A comprehensive factual account is rst presented to clarify understanding of the history of Chagos. The legal framework is then analysed to assess the responsibility of each state, before a number of recommendations are made. Key words: Chagos, Mauritius, United Kingdom, British Indian Ocean territories 

Coercion, Internalization, Decolonization

2019 ◽  
pp. 66-89
Author(s):  
Felix Lange
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
International Law ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Contextual Approach ◽  
World War ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of International Law ◽  
Historical Writings ◽  
Second World

The chapter discusses competing narratives of ‘rise’ and ‘decline’ of international law in the historical writings of international lawyers and historians. The author proposes a contextual approach to the history of international law which takes the terminology of the actors of the past seriously, but also leaves room for an assessment of functional equivalents. The author applies his contextual approach to the story of international law’s universalization. He claims that from the seventeenth century, European international law universalized via processes of forceful coercion by Western powers, internalization through non-Western states, and decolonization after the Second World War.

From the history of one quote… (The role of the French language in the international arena in the XVI century: diachronic aspect)

2020 ◽  
pp. 18-24
Author(s):  
Yulia N. Sdobnova ◽  
◽  
Аlla О. Manuhina
Keyword(s):  
French Language ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
The Past ◽  
Politics And Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Norman French ◽  
Distribution In Europe ◽  
Active Formation

The article is devoted to analyzing the role of the French language in the European society of the XVI century, when la langue francoyse becomes the common language of the communication to both in the field of the official correspondence and in the literature. The research is conducted in the diachronic aspect, concerning different extralinguistic factors (political, ideological, historical and cultural). The origins of this phenomenon are considered: for example, since the XI century, French language was the official language of the court of England and the aristocracy, and then became the working language of the court (le français du loi) and Parliament (the so-called Norman French). Gradually, the tendency to use French as a means of communication between the king and his entourage became the norm of court etiquette in Europe. The XVI century is not only the period of active formation of the French language as the national literary language of France, but also the time of its distribution in Europe as the language of diplomacy, international business and cultural communication of the European elite. The work shows how, due to the compositions of encyclopedic scientists, the work of Francophone teachers outside of France, and the popularization of the French language by translators-humanists (who served at the court of the king François I and his descendants), la langue francoyse consolidated its position in the international arena in the XVI century. At the same time, with the spread of translations into French from the ancient languages (Latin, ancient Greek) the interest of the secular elite of France increases to the past of Europe. And the translations into French from the “living” languages (Italian and Spanish) contributed to the interest to the current problems of modern European literature, as well as history, politics and culture, which was typical for the Renaissance. The article deals with the special attitude of the Renaissance to the French language through the prism of the language worldview of that epoch.

The Balance of Power in International Law: A History of an Idea

1979 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred Vagts ◽  
Detlev F. Vagts
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
International Law ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
World War ◽  
International Policy ◽  
The Past ◽  
Law Of Nations ◽  
International Legal Order ◽  
History Of

The existence of a significant relationship between the concept of the balance of power and international law would be regarded as improbable by most modern international lawyers. They would think of the balance as a wholly obsolete conception and, in any case, as a part of international policy, or worse, part of cynical Realpolitik rather than of law. Earlier generations of jurists, however, did see international equilibrium either as an integral part of the system of rules of the law of nations or at least as a necessary precondition to the existence of such a law. Such a view of the interrelationship was never unanimous; indeed, there were in the past many legal observers who saw the balance of power as an obstacle to the development of an international legal order based on something more moral than force alone. This article is devoted to a study of the relationships between those two concepts as seen by the publicists who created the corpus of international law, principally during the period from the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It is not a study of the balance of power at large—a topic to which volumes might be dedicated—but only of that idea’s relationship with law.

Self-determination—Canada—Quebec—right to secede under constitutional law and public international law—role of international law in Canadian courts

1999 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 519-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard H. Oxman ◽  
Stephen J. Toope
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
International Law ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Supreme Court Of Canada ◽  
Federal Authority ◽  
Unilateral Declaration ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
The Supreme Court

Re Reference by Governor in Council Concerning Certain Questions Relating to Secession of Quebec from Canada.Supreme Court of Canada, August 20, 1998.In an attempt to clarify the legal context in which continuing Canadian constitutional conundrums arise, the federal executive referred three questions to the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the legality under both Canadian constitutional law and international law of a potential unilateral declaration of independence by the Province of Quebec. The Court declared that unilateral secession is not permitted under either Canadian constitutional law or international law. The “underlying principles that animate” the Canadian Constitution preclude secession, even though there is no specific text prohibiting the dismantling of the Canadian state. However, if Quebecers were to vote yes to secession by “a clear majority on a clear question,” democratic legitimacy would be conferred on the secessionist project and a constitutional obligation to negotiate would arise binding the other provinces and the federal authority.

scholarly journals Chicotte

2018 ◽  
pp. 182-190
Author(s):  
Anne-Charlotte Martineau
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Public Law ◽  
French Language ◽  
Colonial Administration ◽  
Commercial Enterprise ◽  
History Of

In the French language, especially as it is practised today in Africa, a chicotte designates a whipping or flogging object. Looking at the history of the chicotte through the lens of the ‘standard of civilization’, this chapter shows that the chicotte has been perceived, presented, and regulated by international law differently at different times. During the Leopoldian era, the infliction of the chicotte became the symbol of a ruthless commercial enterprise that, reformers urged, had to be stopped. When the Belgian state took over the colonial administration of the Congo, the chicotte was turned into a public-law device for ‘civilizing’ native subjects. More recently, in the postcolonial world, the chicotte has come to be seen in international law as a pre-modern artefact, a breach of human rights, the use of which calls for punishment and transformation.

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