Bertha Wilson’s appointment as the first female justice of the Supreme Court of Canada in 1982 capped off a career of firsts. Wilson had been the first woman lawyer and partner at a prominent Toronto law firm and the first woman appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal. Her death in 2007 provoked reflection on her contributions to the Canadian legal landscape and raised the question, what difference do women judges make? Justice Bertha Wilson examines Wilson’s career through three distinct frames and a wide range of feminist perspectives. The authors evince Wilson’s contributions to the legal system in “Foundations,” examine her role in high-profile decisions in “Controversy,” and assess her credentials as a feminist judge and her impact on education and the profession in “Reflections.” This nuanced portrait of a complex, controversial woman will appeal to lawyers, judges, policy makers, academics, and anyone interested in law and women’s contributions to Canadian society.

Transcending the Boundaries of Law brings together three generations of the most respected feminist legal theorists in order to assess the past, the present and the future of feminist legal thought in the Law and Society tradition. It is a ground-breaking collection that will be central to the further development of feminism and related critical theories.

Gerald Le Dain (1924–2007) was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1984. This collectively written biography traces fifty years of his steady, creative, and conciliatory involvement with military service, the legal academy, legislative reform, university administration, and judicial decision-making. This book assembles contributions from the in-house historian of the law firm where Le Dain first practised, from students and colleagues in the law schools where he taught, from a research associate in his Commission of Inquiry into the non-medical use of drugs, from two of his successors on the Federal Court of Appeal, and from three judicial clerks to Le Dain at the Supreme Court of Canada. Also reproduced here is a transcript of a recent CBC documentary about his 1988 forced resignation from the Supreme Court following a short-term depressive illness, with commentary from Le Dain’s family and co-workers. Gerald Le Dain was a tireless worker and a highly respected judge. In a series of essays that cover the different periods and dimensions of his career, Tracings of Gerald Le Dain’s Life in the Law is an important and compassionate account of one man's commitment to the law in Canada. Contributors include Harry W. Arthurs, G. Blaine Baker, Bonnie Brown, Rosemary Cairns-Way, John M. Evans, Melvyn Green, Bernard J. Hibbitts, Peter W. Hogg, Richard A. Janda, C. Ian Kyer, Andree Lajoie, Gerald E. Le Dain, Allen M. Linden, Roderick A. Macdonald, Louise Rolland, and Stephen A. Scott.

Explores the relationship between constitutional law and feminism, offering a spectrum of approaches and analysis set across a wide range of topics.

The year 2017 marked the 150th anniversary of Confederation and the 1867 Constitution Act. Anniversaries like these are often seized upon as opportunities for retrospection. This volume, by contrast, takes a distinctively forward-looking approach. Featuring essays from both emerging and established scholars, The Canadian Constitution in Transition reflects on the ideas that will shape the development of Canadian constitutional law in the decades to come. Moving beyond the frameworks that previous generations used to organize constitutional thinking, the scholars in this volume highlight new and innovative approaches to perennial problems, and seek new insights on where constitutional law is heading. Featuring fresh scholarship from contributors who will lead the constitutional conversation in the years ahead - and who represent the gender, ethnic, linguistic, and demographic make-up of contemporary Canada - The Canadian Constitution in Transition enriches our understanding of the Constitution of Canada, and uses various methodological approaches to chart the course toward the bicentennial.

Judicial systems are under increasing pressure: from rising litigation costs and decreased accessibility, from escalating accountability and performance evaluation expectations, from shifting burdens of case management and alternative dispute resolution roles, and from emerging technologies. For courts to survive and flourish in a rapidly changing society, it is vital to have a clear understanding of their contemporary role – and a willingness to defend it. This book presents a clear vision of what it is that courts do, how they do it, and how we can make sure that they perform that role well. It argues that courts remain a critical, relevant and supremely well-adjusted institution in the 21st century. The approach of this book is to weave together a range of discourses on surrounding judicial issues into a systemic and coherent whole. It begins by articulating the dual roles at the core of the judicial function: third-party merit-based dispute resolution and social (normative) governance. By expanding upon these discrete yet inter-related aspects, it develops a language and conceptual framework to understand the judicial role more fully. The subsequent chapters demonstrate the explanatory power of this function, examining the judicial decision-making method, reframing principles of judicial independence and impartiality, and re-conceiving systems of accountability and responsibility. The book argues that this function-driven conception provides a useful re-imagining of some familiar issues as part of a coherent framework of foundational, yet interwoven, principles. This approach not only adds clarity to the analysis of those concepts and the concrete mechanisms by which they are manifest, but helps make the case of why courts remain such vital social institutions. Ultimately, the book is an entreaty not to take courts for granted, nor to readily abandon the benefits they bring to society. Instead, by understanding the importance and legitimacy of the judicial role, and its multifaceted social benefits, this books challenge us to refresh our courts in a manner that best advances this underlying function.