Law From Within

A History of Law in Canada is the first of two volumes. Volume one begins at a time just prior to European contact and continues to the 1860s, while volume two will start with Confederation and end at approximately 2000. The history of law includes substantive law, legal institutions, legal actors, and legal culture. The authors assume that since 1500 there have been three legal systems in Canada - the Indigenous, the French, and the English. At all times, these systems have co-existed and interacted, with the relative power and influence of each being more or less dominant in different periods. The history of law cannot be treated in isolation, and this book examines law as a dynamic process, shaped by and affecting other histories over the long term. The law guided and was guided by economic developments, was influenced and moulded by the nature and trajectory of political ideas and institutions, and variously exacerbated or mediated intercultural exchange and conflict. These themes are apparent in this examination, and through most areas of law including land settlement and tenure, and family, commercial, constitutional, and criminal law.

Western feminists have long treated the rule of law as an essential ingredient of social justice; however, as the contributors to this collection remind us, meaningful justice remains out of reach for many women and racialized minorities precisely because the law turns a blind eye to the inequities that structure their daily lives. In fourteen chapters that open vital debates about the erosion of the welfare state and the media's complicity in concealing political injustice, Within the Confines details the brutal ironies of a society that criminalizes the vulnerable while absolving the elite. Distinctive in its focus on Canada, the book traces the linkages among racial, ethnic, sexual, and economic vulnerability and reveals the inadequacies of legislative approaches to socio-historical problems such as drug trafficking, homelessness, infanticide, and the legacies of settler colonial violence. In accessible prose, the authors dismantle the myths behind topics that are often sensationalized in the media-pornography, single motherhood, sex work, filicide, gangs, domestic abuse, prison conditions, HIV nondisclosure-and present alternative arguments that expose the justice system's role in widening the gap between the rich and the poor. What emerges is a poignant challenge to the neoliberal fable that women and minorities in Western democracies now enjoy full equality and an urgent call to action for those who seek to shift institutional norms in more equitable directions. A valuable resource for a wide range of fields, including criminology, sociology, social anthropology, gender studies, political science, social work, and legal history, this multidisciplinary volume offers a fresh perspective on the disturbingly predictable judgments that criminalized women face in Canada.

Inside and Outside the Law analyses the relationship between the law, the state and its citizens. Drawing on general theories and specific case-studies, it examines the diverse ways in which people in different cultural and historical settings have experienced the ambiguities of law. Its theme develops to engage with current debates concerning the status of rules and codification in social life and to the revival of interest in moralities. With chapters that encompass countries such as Peru, Mozambique, Spain, Iran, the US and Britain this book has a strong global perspective.

Aesthetic philosophy and the arts offer an innovative and attractive approach to enhancing international law in support of peace.

The Law Lab Book: Case Studies for Legal Learning surveys the historical development and modern application of key areas of law in the United States. Through a collection of dynamic role-playing exercises, the book challenges students to apply the law in different scenarios and learn about the varied work of different legal professionals. The book is organized into 17 chapters. Within each chapter, students read about key legal concepts and then work together in a group as prosecutors, legislators, justices, ethics panelists, and others to resolve a Law Lab. For each Law Lab, students review the substance of the law and then consider the central issue of the lab, focusing on the facts and legal rules that apply to it. The group is challenged to work together to complete a legal test or answer questions. In doing so, they are encouraged to share their opinions, talk through legal complexities, and work toward a resolution. The book unites theoretical legal learning with concrete application, while also teaching students about the law and the legal profession. The Law Lab Book is an excellent core textbook for law survey courses or any course with the goal of introducing students to American law.