The Unbounded Level Of The Mind

Roderick A. Macdonald (1948-2014), internationally renowned for his expertise on access to justice, legal pluralism, and the philosophy of law, was first and foremost a teacher and mentor. He believed in the law as a promise our society makes to itself, and passionately imparted this message to students who went on to become lawyers, judges, and academics. Throughout his career, including participation in several government commissions and tenures as dean of law at McGill University and president of the Law Commission of Canada, he strove to promote ideas that have become woven into our contemporary understanding of unity, reconciliation, accommodation, and social justice. The Unbounded Level of the Mind brings together the fascinating essays developed from presentations made at a symposium, held in February 2014 at McGill’s Faculty of Law, in honour of Rod Macdonald. Eminent legal scholars from Canada and beyond explore various aspects of Macdonald’s rich scholarship, reflecting on the influence this has had on their own work and its implications for the future. Organized around six cross-cutting themes – kaleidoscopic federalism, producing fairness, pluralizing the subject, the priority of distributive justice, contextualizing governance, and pursuing virtue – this volume is both a tribute to Macdonald’s dedication to the law and a call to challenge all assumptions in the quest to better our society.

In this ground-breaking work, two pioneering thinkers in business studies pinpoint the profound changes they believe must occur in the way that business executives think, make decisions and solve problems if America is to remain competitive.

Mirror of Consciousness ambitiously traverses a wide range of themes pertaining to art, creativity, knowledge and theory. Its unique perspective lies in its exposition of Vedic Science as brought to light by His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and in the application of the principles of this science to preliminary analysis of the Vastusutra Upanishad. No other publication has examined art and theory with the same comprehensive vision. To do justice to the topic of universal value in art and theory, the author has delved into several areas that impact the visual arts--late twentieth-century debates in art theory, models of historiography, new definitions of culture and tradition--in the context of the individual`s own consciousness or simplest form of awareness. Though comprehensive and detailed, it will appeal to those who are curious about trends in the visual arts, the advent and impact of new technologies, and the development of collective consciousness in our time.

A critical history of the Americanization of legal education in fourteen countries The second half of the twentieth century witnessed the export of American power—both hard and soft—throughout the world. What role did US cultural and economic imperialism play in legal education? American Legal Education Abroad offers an unprecedented and surprising picture of the history of legal education in fourteen countries beyond the United States. Each study in this book represents a critical history of the Americanization of legal education, reexamining prevailing narratives of exportation, transplantation, and imperialism. Collectively, these studies challenge the conventional wisdom that American ideas and practices have dominated globally. Editors Susan Bartie and David Sandomierski and their contributors suggest that to understand legal education and to respond thoughtfully to the mounting present-day challenges, it is essential to look beyond a particular region and consider not only the ideas behind legal education but also the broader historical, political, and cultural factors that have shaped them. American Legal Education Abroad begins with an important foundational history by leading Harvard Law School historian Bruce Kimball, who explains the factors that created a transportable American legal model, and the book concludes with reflections from two prominent American law professors, Susan Carle and Bob Gordon, whose observations on recent disruptions within US law schools suggest that their influence within the global order of legal education may soon fall into further decline. This book should be considered an invaluable resource for anyone in the field of law.

As the leading legal historian of his generation in Canada and professor at McGill University for over three decades, Blaine Baker (1952–2018) was known for his unique personality, teaching style, intellectual cosmopolitanism, and deep commitment to the place of Canadian legal history in the curriculum of law faculties. Law, Life, and the Teaching of Legal History examines important themes in Canadian legal history through the prism of Baker’s career. Essays discuss Baker’s own research, his influence within McGill’s law faculty, his complex personality, and the relationship between the private and the public in the life of a university intellectual at the turn of the twenty-first century. Inspired by topics Baker took up in his own writing, contributors use Baker’s broad interests in legal culture to reflect on fundamental themes across Canadian legal history, including legal education, gender and race, technology, nation building and national identity, criminal law and marginalized populations, and constitutionalism. Law, Life, and the Teaching of Legal History offers a contemporary analysis of Canadian legal history and thoughtfully engages with what it means to honour one individual’s enduring legacy in the study of law.

Drawing upon theories of critical legal pluralism and psychological theories of narrative identity, this book argues for an understanding of popular culture as legal authority, unmediated by translation into state law. In narrating our identities, we draw upon collective cultural narratives, and our narrative/nomos obligational selves become the nexus for law and popular culture as mutually constitutive discourse. The author demonstrates the efficacy and desirability of applying a pluralist legal analysis to examine a much broader scope of subject matter than is possible through the restricted perspective of state law alone. The study considers whether presumptively illegal acts might actually be instances of a re-imagined, alternative legality, and the concomitant implications. As an illustrative example, works of critical dystopia and the beliefs and behaviours of eco/animal-terrorists can be understood as shared narrative and normative commitments that constitute law just as fully as does the state when it legislates and adjudicates. This book will be of great interest to academics and scholars of law and popular culture, as well as those involved in interdisciplinary work in legal pluralism.

Harry W. Arthurs is a name held in high esteem by labour lawyers and academics throughout the world. Although many are familiar with Arthurs's contributions and accomplishments, few are acquainted with the man himself, or how he came to be one of the most influential figures in Canadian law and legal education. In Connecting the Dots Arthurs recounts his adventures in academe and the people, principles, ideas, motivations, and circumstances that have shaped his thinking and his career. The memoir offers intimate recollections and observations, beginning with the celebrated ancestors who influenced Arthurs's upbringing and education. It then sweeps through his career as an architect of important reforms in legal education and explores his research as a trailblazing commentator on the legal profession. Arthurs analyzes his experiences as a legal theorist and historian and his pivotal role as a discordant voice in debates over constitutional and administrative law. Along the way, he muses on the intellectual projects he embraced or set in motion, the institutional reforms he advocated, the public policies he recommended, and how they fared long term. Framed with commentary on the historical context that shaped each decade of his career and punctuated by moments of personal reflection, Connecting the Dots is a humorous, frank, and fearless account of the rise and fall of Canadian labour law from the man who was at the centre of it all.