The Judicial Role In A Diverse Federation

"In The Judicial Role in a Diverse Federation, Robert Schertzer uses the example of the Supreme Court of Canada to examine how apex courts manage diversity and conflict in federal states. Schertzer argues that in a diverse federation where the nature of the federal system is contested the courts should facilitate negotiation between conflicting parties, rather than impose their own vision of the federal system. Drawing on a comprehensive review of the Supreme Court federalism jurisprudence between 1980 and 2010, he demonstrates that the court has increasingly adopted this approach of facilitating negotiation by acknowledging the legitimacy of different understandings of the Canadian federation. This book will be required reading both for those interested in Canada's Supreme Court and for those engaged in broader debates about the use of federalism in multinational states."--

In The Judicial Role in a Diverse Federation, Robert Schertzer uses the example of the Supreme Court of Canada to examine how apex courts manage diversity and conflict in federal states. Schertzer argues that in a diverse federation where the nature of the federal system is contested the courts should facilitate negotiation between conflicting parties, rather than impose their own vision of the federal system. Drawing on a comprehensive review of the Supreme Court federalism jurisprudence between 1980 and 2010, he demonstrates that the court has increasingly adopted this approach of facilitating negotiation by acknowledging the legitimacy of different understandings of the Canadian federation. This book will be required reading both for those interested in Canada's Supreme Court and for those engaged in broader debates about the use of federalism in multinational states.

Until President Jimmy Carter launched an effort to diversify the lower federal courts, the U.S. courts of appeals had been composed almost entirely of white males. But by 2008, over a quarter of sitting judges were women and 15 percent were African American or Hispanic. Underlying the argument made by administration officials for a diverse federal judiciary has been the expectation that the presence of women and minorities will ensure that the policy of the courts will reflect the experiences of a diverse population. Yet until now, scholarly studies have offered only limited support for the expectation that judges’ race, ethnicity, or gender impacts their decision making on the bench. In Diversity Matters, Susan B. Haire and Laura P. Moyer employ innovative new methods of analysis to offer a fresh examination of the effects of diversity on the many facets of decision making in the federal appellate courts. Drawing on oral histories and data on appellate decisions through 2008, the authors’ analyses demonstrate that diversity on the bench affects not only individual judges’ choices but also the overall character and quality of judicial deliberation and decisions. Looking forward, the authors anticipate the ways in which these process effects will become more pronounced as a result of the highly diverse Obama appointment cohort.

In Diversity and Unity in Federal Countries, leading scholars and practitioners analyse the current political, socio-economic, spatial, and cultural diversity in the countries under consideration before delving into the role that social, historical, and political factors have had in shaping the balance of diversity and unity. The authors assess the value placed on diversity by examining whether present institutional arrangements and public policies restrict or enhance diversity and address the future challenges of balancing diversity and unity in an increasingly populated and mobile world.

This publication is the latest in a series of steps to assist judges in carrying out their onerous responsibilities, and represents a concise yet comprehensive set of principles addressing the many difficult ethical issues that confront judges as they work and live in their communities. It also provides a sound basis to promote a more complete understanding of the role of the judge in society and of the ethical dilemmas they so often encounter. Sections of the publication cover the following: the purpose of the publication; judicial independence; integrity; diligence; equality; and impartiality, including judicial demeanour, civic and charitable activity, political activity, and conflicts of interest.

How and to what degree do federations produce uniform law within their system? This comparative empirical study addresses these questions comprehensively for the first time. Originally produced under the auspices of the International Academy of Comparative Law, this volume examines legal unification in twenty federations around the world. Each of the successive chapters presents the forces of unification through the lens of a particular federal system. A comparative overview chapter provides a detailed analysis of the overall results with compelling visual illustrations of legal unification along different dimensions (e.g. by area of law; by federation; by civil vs common law system). The overview chapter summarizes and analyzes the means and methods of legal unification and the degree of legal unification of each system, and explains the driving forces of legal unity and diversity in federations more generally. The volume presents surprising findings that should make scholars rethink their abandonment of the civil law vs. common law distinction in comparative law. ​ This book is a milestone in the study of federalism. It is a rare and welcome melding of comparative law and comparative politics using both original data and qualitative analysis. Wide-ranging, probing, and definitive, this book is an invaluable resource for students of law, politics, and multi-level governance. Gary Marks, Burton Craige Professor, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Chair in Multilevel Governance, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

The Federal Court of Appeal and Federal Court are unique among Canada's courts because they are itinerant -- they hear cases in all parts of Canada -- as well as being bilingual and bijural. This book was prepared for the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Federal Courts in 2021. Seventy-eight current and retired judges and prothonotaries on the two courts were interviewed and are referred to throughout the book. The authors present a brief history of these courts and their predecessor -- the Exchequer Court of Canada -- and an overview of the courts' jurisdiction, decision-making trends, and unique attributes. There are chapters on each of the courts' specialties -- administrative law, immigration and refugee law, intellectual property, security and intelligence, Indigenous issues, the environment, admiralty, labour and human rights, and tax. Chief Justice Noël and Chief Justice Crampton each contribute a chapter. The preface is by Justice Frank Iacobucci and the epilogue by Justice Robert Décary.

Revealing analysis of how judges work as individuals and collectively to uphold judicial values in the face of contemporary challenges.