Canada’s Patented Medicines (Notice Of Compliance) Regulations fail to achieve the intended purpose of balancing innovation with timely generic market entry. An examination of the inefficiencies created by the Canadian regulations reveals that key features of U.S. pharmaceutical law should be adopted to improve the disjointed regulatory system that impedes generic competition. Specifically, the regulations should be amended to consolidate multiple proceedings into one cause of action that evaluates patent validity. An economic incentive to challenge weak patents should also be introduced in Canada. These features encourage competition without deterring pharmaceutical research and development because only patents that are not truly inventive will be invalidated after a full inquiry. As such, the intellectual property laws will continue to satisfy Canada’s international intellectual property obligations and protect innovative medicines and allow recovery of costs and monopoly profits to new and useful pharmaceutical products.

One of the main factors that spurred the 2008 financial crisis was the trading of securitized products without a clear understanding of the risks that those products bore. I argue that an appropriate regime of mandatory disclosure is the primary instrument regulators should refer to in order to correct the informational asymmetries that are present in the market for securities products. Subsequently, I take into consideration the CSA proposed legislation for the mandatory disclosure of securitized products and analyze its main components under the light of the principles of investor protection and market efficiency. I find that the new legislation should be welcome by market operators because it is a good balancing effort between the necessity to protect the investors and fostering the efficiency of the market.

Section 293 of the Criminal Code of Canada provides that polygamy is an indictable offence. In a recent reference to the Supreme Court of British Colombia, the court held that this section was constitutionally valid and did not infringe upon religious freedom because of the harm polygamous marriages caused to women, children, society and most importantly, “the institution of monogamous marriage”. This paper will revisit the court’s analysis of polygamy and discuss why it was considered harmful and preserved as a criminal act. The paper will canvas the underlying differences between the roles ascribed to marriage in Islam, as an example of a non-Western religio-legal tradition, and the collective liberal West. Ultimately, the paper will consider whether a balance can be struck between the measures required to protect women and children from harm, and preserving religious freedom, while remaining within the bounds of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The thesis explores the concept of International Arbitration, an alternative to litigation. It argues the benefits and the inherent limitations parties are likely to face while resorting to this instrument to resolve Transfer of Technology and Intellectual Property related disputes. The paper further explains how Arbitrability limitations can be taken care of in relation to transfer of technology disputes. Emphasis is placed on the institutional role of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Arbitration and Mediation Center as an appropriate arbitration forum to deal with complex technological and Intellectual Property related disputes.

A special role amongst various efforts to combat transnational criminal activity belongs to extradition, which has transformed into a form of international cooperation and became an indispensable tool for ensuring criminal responsibility in any part of the world. However, for a long period of time, an individual in the process of extradition has been treated as a passive object of intergovernmental relations which have a significant political component. In this thesis, the claim is that treatment of an individual as a rights bearer and an active subject of legal relationships among other parties of the process, combined with transfer of final decision-making right from the executive to judiciary branch of power, is capable to enable application of the Rule of law principles to particular extradition cases, limit broad discretion of decision makers and minimize political component of extradition.

Resurfice Corp. v. Hanke, [2007] 1 S.C.R. 333, 2007 SCC 7, creates a new causation doctrine in Canadian negligence law that is available to plaintiffs only in exceptional cases. Under this doctrine, negligence and the possibility of specific factual causation may be sufficient to satisfy the causation requirements of a cause of action in negligence. Proof of specific factual causation on the balance of probability is not required. The justification for this doctrine is fairness and justice. The application of the doctrine does not produce a decision that the negligence did cause the injury. Where the requirements of the Resurfice doctrine are satisfied, the causation requirements of the cause of action are deemed to be satisfied despite the finding that factual causation was not established on the balance of probability. The authorities cited are current to June 21, 2012.

This paper explores the interrelationships among corporate culture, capital structure, firm performance, and fiduciary duties. Chaos theory, nonlinear dynamics, complex systems theory, and socio-cultural studies of firms’ organizational ecosystems, and enabling infrastructure suggest that the BCE rule is: (i) a superior fiduciary principle to shareholder primacy; and (ii) more likely to enhance firm value in proportion to the importance of intangible assets in its production process. The existence of “epistatic costs” rooted in the non-linear negative feedback effects of perverse agency theory-driven cost cutting is hypothesized. A theoretical model is developed to empirically test for the existence of epistatic costs and optimal levels of organizational tension or “slack.” Broader implications of the model for fiduciary rules, financing decisions, and the current posture of Canadian securities regulation in the takeover context are explored.

The Saudi taʿawuni insurance model, despite claiming to be compatible with Islamic transactional rules, in fact violates the prohibition of gharar (risk) through its commercial structure. The study investigates the ways in which gharar (risk) is accommodated in modern insurance models. It argues that the most appropriate solution to comply with the doctrine of gharar, is to de-commercialize the taʿawuni model by adopting the mutual insurance model, which is capable of satisfying the requirements of sharia relating to the prohibition of trading in gharar

This paper outlines a prosecutorial framework by which Canadian corporations can be held criminally liable for their involvement in war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide. Combining the provisions of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act with the corporate liability standards found in the Canadian Criminal Code, a standard of liability emerges which appears well designed to generate findings of guilt against multinational corporations with complicated ownership structures, a myriad of representatives and far-flung operations. This model standard, it is hoped, might furthermore contribute to the global debate regarding multinational corporate accountability. By applying the proposed framework to two Canadian corporations constructing internationally illegal settlements on the farmlands of Bil‘in in the West Bank, I therefore seek to test its practical relevance, as well as to demonstrate the theoretical underpinnings and legal sources (domestic and international) which would support its application, both in this instance and beyond.

Prostitution has often been referred to as the oldest profession in the world. Yet the Canadian legislature and courts refuse to recognize it as a profession but merely as a social nuisance or worse yet a social evil. While the act of selling sex in exchange for money is technically legal in Canada, all related activities are criminalized. The majority of social science studies concerning the impact of prostitution-related laws on the health, safety and wellbeing of prostitutes indicates that criminalization jeopardizes the safety of prostitutes, as well as their access to health and social services and recommends the decriminalization of the profession. Despite these studies and requests from sex workers and experts, the government has refused to repeal any of the prostitution-related laws. This paper outlines the societal and legislative treatment of prostitution and then seeks to determine whether decriminalization is a viable goal in Canada.