This thesis appears to be the first academic recognition of the public trust doctrine at Canadian common law. Surprisingly, despite the explosion of the doctrine in the United States, there has been little consideration of the doctrine by Canadian courts and only one Canadian article on the subject. To date, Canadian interest in the doctrine has been primarily statutory. In essence, the public trust doctrine means that despite its ownership of natural resources, the government holds certain resources, such as navigable waters, on trust or in a fiduciary capacity for the public. The origins of the doctrine are somewhat vague, but can be traced back to Roman law and the English public rights of navigation and fishing. A review of these public rights reveals that at both law and economics, certain resources are "special" and inherently public in nature. A long and dusty trail through Canadian law reports reveals that Canadian courts have recognized a public trust with respect to navigation and fishing as well as highways. Although the public trust concerning navigation and fishing has lain dormant since the late nineteenth century, the distinctive features of the public rights of navigation and fishing which led both American and Canadian courts to declare a public trust, have been mirrored in Canadian law. Coupled with the initial Canadian recognition of the public trust, the foundations therefore exist for a modern common law revival of the public trust doctrine in Canada. The likely consequences of recognition of the public trust at Canadian common law are : (1) the recognition of a substantive right, and therefore legal standing, in members of the public to vindicate public trust interests; (2) the imposition of an affirmative fiduciary obligation on government with respect to trust resources; (3) the imposition of an administrative process on government with respect to supervision and disposition of public trust resources; (4) restrictions on alienation of trust resources, in particular the restriction that legislation is required to modify or extinguish public trust resources and, (5) in an environmental context, recognition of the importance of the natural environment and the special and inter-related nature of trust resources.

Les « années de plomb » en Italie demeurent un passé qui est souvent mobilisé dans des contextes très divers et dont l’interprétation divise et oppose de nombreux acteurs. Cette thèse analyse les usages de ce passé, des années 1970 jusqu’à nos jours, et montre comment s’est élaboré et imposé en Italie un cadre interprétatif dominant des événements de la période. A partir de matériaux empiriques variés (entretiens, autobiographies, archives, débats parlementaires), elle étudie les multiples arènes où s’élaborent les mises en récit des événements passés et les controverses qui marquent leur interprétation. A la différence des travaux qui mettent en avant le caractère « exceptionnel » ou « traumatisant » d’un passé pour rendre compte de sa récurrence dans les débats postérieurs, ce travail déplace la focale du passé au présent. Il porte l’attention sur les acteurs qui interviennent dans les débats sur le passé et sur les enjeux qui leur sont propres : magistrats, victimes, anciens militants, hommes politiques. Il montre comment le passé est construit et reconstruit sans cesse dans et par ces différentes mobilisations et controverses qui se déroulent dans des conjonctures éloignées. C’est donc dans la rencontre entre trajectoire d’acteurs (et groupes d’acteurs) et contextes sociopolitiques que l’on peut saisir et expliquer les vies ultérieures des années 1970 en Italie. / In Italy, the « years of lead » represent a controversial past: this period of recent history is often mobilized in various contexts and its interpretations divide and oppose different actors. This thesis analyses the public uses of history, from the 1970s until today, and shows how a dominant frame of interpretation of past events has been set. Various empirical materials (interviews, autobiographies, archives, parliamentary debates) allowed to study different areas where narrations of past events have been constructed and controversies are taking place. Differently from works that are explaining recurrent controversies about the past by its “exceptional” or “traumatic” character, this research is focusing on the present. It analyses the actors that are intervening in public debates about the past and on their specific issues: judges, victims, former activists, politicians. It sheds light on how the past is continuously constructed and reconstructed in and by contemporary mobilizations and controversies. Thus, this work associates the study of actors’ trajectories and sociopolitical contexts to explain the posterior lives of the 1970s in Italy

This thesis appears to be the first academic recognition of the public trust doctrine at Canadian common law. Surprisingly, despite the explosion of the doctrine in the United States, there has been little consideration of the doctrine by Canadian courts and only one Canadian article on the subject. To date, Canadian interest in the doctrine has been primarily statutory. In essence, the public trust doctrine means that despite its ownership of natural resources, the government holds certain resources, such as navigable waters, on trust or in a fiduciary capacity for the public. The origins of the doctrine are somewhat vague, but can be traced back to Roman law and the English public rights of navigation and fishing. A review of these public rights reveals that at both law and economics, certain resources are "special" and inherently public in nature. A long and dusty trail through Canadian law reports reveals that Canadian courts have recognized a public trust with respect to navigation and fishing as well as highways. Although the public trust concerning navigation and fishing has lain dormant since the late nineteenth century, the distinctive features of the public rights of navigation and fishing which led both American and Canadian courts to declare a public trust, have been mirrored in Canadian law. Coupled with the initial Canadian recognition of the public trust, the foundations therefore exist for a modern common law revival of the public trust doctrine in Canada. The likely consequences of recognition of the public trust at Canadian common law are : (1) the recognition of a substantive right, and therefore legal standing, in members of the public to vindicate public trust interests; (2) the imposition of an affirmative fiduciary obligation on government with respect to trust resources; (3) the imposition of an administrative process on government with respect to supervision and disposition of public trust resources; (4) restrictions on alienation of trust resources, in particular the restriction that legislation is required to modify or extinguish public trust resources and, (5) in an environmental context, recognition of the importance of the natural environment and the special and inter-related nature of trust resources. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate