scholarly journals “Lest You Undermine Our Struggle”: Sympathetic Action and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

2015 ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Keir J.M. Vallance

In this new era of recognized constitutional labour rights, one aspect of labour relations — sympathetic action — remains, for the most part, judicially unexamined. This article examines the case law to demonstrate that there is a constitutional argument that both the statutory prohibition on sympathetic action, and the hostility to sympathetic action in the common law of contract and tort, infringe on the freedoms in section 2 of the Charter. However, there is no necessary connection between a right to undertake sympathetic action and a right to strike, nor is freedom of association the only Charter right that can protect sympathetic action. Ultimately, an absolute ban on sympathetic action under Canadian labour law violates the Charter and must be removed; and the hostility of the law of tort and the law of contract to sympathetic action also contravenes Charter values.

1970 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Anderson

This discussion raises a nu1nber ojissues related to the introduction of the economic torts into New Zealand labour law during the 1970s. These include the question of whether such major innovations accorded with the principles normally accepted by comparative lawvers when considering legal transplants. and the basic question of whether the common law as developed in Britain is, in this case, suitable for New Zealand circumstances. The impact of the law in New Zealand is then outlined and the changes introduced hy the Labour Relations Act are briefly considered.


Author(s):  
John Gardner

This chapter explores the idea that labour law rests on ‘a contractual foundation’, and the idea that work relations today are ever more ‘contractualised’. Section 1 lays out some essentials of British labour law and its connections with the common law of contract. Section 2 explains what contractualisation is, not yet focusing attention on the specific context of labour law. The main claims are that contract is not a specifically legal device, and that contractualisation is therefore not a specifically legal process, even when the law is complicit in it. Section 3 shifts attention to the world of work, especially the employment relationship. Here the main ideas are that the employment relationship is not (apart from the law) a contractual relationship, and that all the norms of the employment relationship cannot therefore be captured adequately in a contract, legally binding or otherwise. Section 4 illustrates the latter point by focusing on the rationale and the limits of the employer’s authority over the employee. A contractual rationale yields the wrong limits. It gives its blessing to authoritarian work regimes and lends credence to the miserable view that work is there to pay for the life of the worker without forming part of that life. Throughout the chapter there are intimations of the conclusion drawn in section 5: that contractualisation, in the labour market at least, is a process that lovers of freedom, as well as lovers of self-realisation, should resist—or rather, should have resisted while they still had the chance.


2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Bryden ◽  
Jula Hughes

The "reasonable apprehension of bias" test for judicial disqualification has been a fixture in the common law world for centuries; despite this settled state of the law, judges and commentators have been concerned that the application of the test might be contentious in a significant number of cases. In this article, the authors report on an empirical study surveying Canadian provincial and territorial judges on common scenarios which raise the possibility of recusal. Situated in the applicable case law, the findings demonstrate a wide divergence of opinion on substance and procedure among respondents in their attitudes toward recusal in situations that are analytically marginal, but not rare. The article concludes with some possible explanations for the divergence.


Author(s):  
Steven Gow Calabresi

This chapter explains briefly the origins and development of the common law tradition in order to better understand the rise of judicial review in the seven common law countries discussed in this volume. The common law legal tradition is characterized historically, in public law, by limited, constitutional government and by forms of judicial review of the constitutionality of legislation. In private law, the common law tradition is characterized by judge-made case law, which is the primary source of the law, instead of a massive code being the primary source of the law. The common law tradition is also characterized by reliance on the institution of trial by jury. Judges, rather than scholars, are the key figures who are revered in the common law legal tradition, and this is one of the key things that distinguishes the common law legal tradition from the civil law legal tradition. The common law legal tradition emphasizes judicial power, which explains why it has led to judicial review in the countries studied in this volume. It is the prevailing legal tradition in the four countries with the oldest systems of judicial review of the constitutionality of legislation: the United States, Canada, Australia, and India. Thus, judicial review of the constitutionality of legislation in these four countries is very much shaped by common law attitudes about the roles of judges.


Contract Law ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 662-679
Author(s):  
Ewan McKendrick

This chapter considers a group of cases in which the courts have been asked to grant relief on the basis that the contract concluded between the parties was, in some way, unfair, outlining examples drawn both from the common law (including equity) and from statutes. The rise and fall of a doctrine of inequality of bargaining power is also noted. It then considers the arguments in favour of drawing these disparate cases together into one general doctrine, and concludes by drawing on some academic reflections on the case-law and the role of fairness in the law of contract more generally.


1970 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Vranken

This paper reflects on the uneasy relationship that exists in New Zealand between common law and industrial law. A parallel is drawn with the move of labour law away from the general principles of the civil law in Continental Western Europe. It is argued that, especially in the context of industrial action the Labour Relations Act 1987 missed out on a unique chance to assert fully the social autonorny of New Zealand labour law.


Author(s):  
Ewan McKendrick

This chapter considers a group of cases in which the courts have been asked to grant relief on the basis that the contract concluded between the parties was, in some way, unfair, outlining examples drawn both from the common law (including equity) and from statutes. The rise and fall of a doctrine of inequality of bargaining power is also noted. It then considers the arguments in favour of drawing these disparate cases together into one general doctrine, and concludes by drawing on some academic reflections on the case-law and the role of fairness in the law of contract more generally.


Author(s):  
Michael Adams

This paper examines the balance between officers' and directors' duties in the context of modern regulatory reform. The onus that falls on all directors, from a legal point of view, is applied irrespective of the size and complexity of the corporation. Thus, a small (micro-business) with a single director has the same legal obligation under the common law, the equitable fiduciary duties and the statutory obligations under the Corporations Act as Australia's largest entity, BHP Billiton. The current Federal Government is attempting to reduce the burden of red tape on business to help the economy. The regulators, in particular ASIC, are pursuing cases to enforce the law and increase compliance. There has been recent case law which helps explain the key statutory provisions and the underlying complexity of the law. The major defence and protection for officers' duties, is the so called “business judgement rule,” but it does not seem to be very effective and good quality insurance cover is probably much more useful in the commercial world.


Author(s):  
Eva Steiner

This chapter examines the law of contract in France and discusses the milestone reform of French contract law. While this new legislation introduces a fresh equilibrium between the contracting parties and enhances accessibility and legal certainty in contract, it does not radically change the state of the law in this area. In addition, it does not strongly impact the traditional philosophical foundations of the law of contract. The reform, in short, looks more like a tidying up operation rather than a far-reaching transformation of the law. Therefore, the chapter argues that it is questionable whether the new law, which was also intended to increase France's attractiveness against the background of a world market dominated by the Common Law, will keep its promise.


Author(s):  
Molly Shaffer Van Houweling

This chapter studies intellectual property (IP). A hallmark of the New Private Law (NPL) is attentiveness to and appreciation of legal concepts and categories, including the traditional categories of the common law. These categories can sometimes usefully be deployed outside of the traditional common law, to characterize, conceptualize, and critique other bodies of law. For scholars interested in IP, for example, common law categories can be used to describe patent, copyright, trademark, and other fields of IP as more or less “property-like” or “tort-like.” Thischapter investigates both the property- and tort-like features of IP to understand the circumstances under which one set of features tends to dominate and why. It surveys several doctrines within the law of copyright that demonstrate how courts move along the property/tort continuum depending on the nature of the copyrighted work at issue—including, in particular, how well the work’s protected contours are defined. This conceptual navigation is familiar, echoing how common law courts have moved along the property/tort continuum to address disputes over distinctive types of tangible resources.


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