Engagement with international law is notably absent in Canada's legal past. It is likely, however, to be a momentous part of Canada's legal future. It is the thesis of this book that a lack of basic international legal understanding on the part of lawyers and judges is no longer permissible in the integrated world in which we live, and that we must educate ourselves better if we are to manage that integration process in the interests of Canadian society. Accordingly, Using International Law in Canadian Courts sets out to provide Canadian practitioners and legal academics with a straightforward guide to using public international law in Canadian courts and tribunals.

The relationship between domestic courts and international law is usually defined by the frameworks of monism and dualism. The Engagement of Domestic Courts with International Law advances and develops a new paradigm for describing, assessing, and understanding the role of domestic courts in the international legal order. Two trends are examined in parallel in this volume. The traditional dividing lines between national and international law norms and institutions have become increasingly blurred. However, the practice of domestic courts can less and less be understood by reference to a formal approach that dictates how national legal orders receive international law. The solutions that courts reach are often based on a variety of other considerations that are not captured by the classical formal models. The aim of the book is to bring together the wide variety of types of engagement, as an important step towards a better understanding of what courts do and, eventually, towards a normative exercise of articulating principles or guidelines for the engagement of domestic courts with international law. To bring together the pragmatic approaches of domestic courts, the International Law Association Study Group on Principles on the Engagement of Domestic Courts with International Law engaged in studies with experts from a variety of backgrounds. On the basis of the Study Group's Final Report, the editors of this book continued to work with experts from different jurisdictions to collect and analyse alternate pragmatic forms of engagement from domestic courts. This publication contains the outcome of this process.

The Engagement of Domestic Courts with International Law advances and develops a new paradigm for describing, assessing, and understanding the role of domestic courts in the international legal order.

Canadians like to think that their country is law-abiding and honours its international commitments. Is Our House in Order? explores this public perception while considering whether or not it is correct in terms of domestic law.