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This study explores the political impact of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on the Supreme Court of Canada. This influence is contrasted with the judiciary's historic reluctance to recognize civil liberties, commencing with the position taken by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and the cautious reaction of the Supreme Court to the Diefenbaker Bill of Rights. / The treatment of civil liberties under the Charter is considered through a survey of some of the Charter cases addressed by the Supreme Court of Canada. The political consequences of the Court's decisions are examined. Alternative possibilities for the Court's role in Canadian society are considered, including the prospects for entrenchment under the Meech Lake Accord and other recently proposed reforms. / The criticism that too much power is being vested in the "least democratic branch" is addressed and the suggestion that the Charter should be located in the "communitarian tradition of Canadian politics" is appraised. This study reflects upon the theoretical assumptions which underlie the existence of the Charter, as it evaluates the political theory behind differing conceptions of judicial interpretation. This thesis concludes by determining that the Supreme Court has made a positive political contribution to Canadian society.

For centuries, the theory and principles of diplomatics have played a role in the work of European archivists. In North America, however, its relevance is still under scrutiny. This thesis employs diplomatic analysis to test its validity when applied to modern documents and procedures. To investigate the significance of diplomatic methodology and analysis, this thesis first discusses the recent history and structure of the British Columbia court system. It then examines a selection of case files from the civil, probate and bankruptcy registries, and it assigns the documents within to one of the six phases of a procedure: initiative, inquiry, consultation, deliberation, deliberation control, and execution. The study concludes by discussing the diplomatic character of the procedures and its importance in the understanding of modern records. More specifically, it outlines how diplomatics and procedural analysis can assist records professionals in the development of classification systems and retention and disposition schedules; the design of automated records management systems; and archival appraisal, arrangement and description.

This paper looks at the relationship between gender equality and the legal system in Japan. The legislative and judicial histories of cases involving women's rights in employment and the family system are utilized to understand this relationship and explore areas for future development of gender equality in Japan.

Recusal, or judicial disqualification, occurs when a judge abstains from a particular legal proceeding because of a personal conflict of interest. All levels of the judicial system and some administrative agencies in the United States apply the concept of recusal, but this study focuses on the United States Supreme Court. Title 28 of the United States Code provides standards (not obligatory by legal means) on when Supreme Court Justices should recuse themselves. But Supreme Court Justices are themselves the arbiters of their own recusal and often these substantive standards are not met. The method of study applied is theoretical, using both quantitative and qualitative data from past Supreme Court cases.

In 1987, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians. A landmark decision, the case carried significant ramifications for tribal sovereignty and the creation of the Native American gaming industry. In response to the decision, the United States Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act the following year. Since the Supreme Court ruled in Cabazon, Native American gaming has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry and the most significant source of revenue for many tribes across the country. Given the complexity of Native American law and the controversial nature of casino gaming, the industry has resulted in many contentious legal battles between tribes and parties ranging from state governments to private corporations. As the Cabazon decision was the breakthrough for reservation gaming, this thesis will examine the Supreme Court’s rulings regarding tribal gaming and how they affected the Native American gaming industry and the doctrine of tribal sovereignty.

The institutional legitimacy and impact of the Supreme Court, like all political institutions, ultimately depend on public support. However, unlike other political institutions, the Court does not draw that support directly from the democratic process. Scholars in the United States have examined this problem by analyzing the relationship between public perceptions of judicial institutions and their legitimacy, emphasizing the importance of myth in sustaining support for courts in the absence of democratic accountability. This thesis extends American research to the Canadian case, by examining the role of the media as a significant source of popular perceptions of the Canadian Supreme Court. The objective of this thesis is to provide a preliminary assessment of this role by analyzing newspaper coverage of three of the Court's important and high-profile decisions: The Morgentaler, Thibaudeau and Symes cases. The thesis contends that the media, at times through oversimplifications and mischaracterization of issues, help to perpetuate a positive myth of the Court. Through qualitative and quantitative analysis, this thesis shows that the public appears to base its support on this myth, which is built upon incomplete and oversimplified information. This distorted image of the Court helps to strengthen its legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

The idea that Canada was transformed into a "constitutional democracy" in 1982 is widely believed by the public, yet rarely examined in academic literature. This article identifies what it calls a "theory of Constitutional democracy" and then applies it to a test case, the Supreme Court of Canada's decisions on the equality claims of lesbians and gay men. It concludes that if the public expected such a transition, it has yet to be made.

Many Supreme Court followers contended that Judge John Roberts entered his Supreme Court confirmation hearings as a "stealth candidate" who lacked a paper trail the Judiciary Committee could vet to discern the interpretive approach, or judicial philosophy, to which Judge Roberts' subscribed. This dissertation used rhetorical criticism as a methodological approach for examining this claim. A close-reading of Roberts' law journal articles, his writings from his service during the Reagan and Bush (41) administrations, the text of his appellate court confirmation testimony and published opinions, and the text of his Supreme Court confirmation testimony and published opinions reveals that Roberts was not a "stealth candidate" but instead a jurist who resolved constitutional, judicial, political, and statutory issues by incorporating components of originalism and positivism into his prudentialist judicial philosophy. The first two chapters of the dissertation provide the requisite background for the study. Chapter I discusses the challenges of the nomination and confirmation processes for Supreme Court Justices, and the chapter discusses the crucial powers that the Chief Justice possesses. Chapter II introduces readers to legal arguments, argument modalities, and judicial philosophies, and the chapter offers a new definition for the terms "legal rhetoric" and provides a new methodology for studying judicial discourse. The subsequent chapters comprise the core of the study. Chapter III examines Roberts' law review articles and the letters, memoranda, and position papers he wrote while working for the Reagan and Bush administrations, Chapter IV investigates Roberts' appellate court confirmation testimony and his published opinions, and Chapter V investigates Roberts' Supreme Court confirmation testimony and his published opinions. Following a chronological approach reveals that Roberts consistently used certain argument types within corresponding argument modalities to formulate his argumentative strategies, and each chapter demonstrates that Roberts' adhered to a prudentialist interpretive approach to resolve constitutional and statutory questions. Finally, Chapter VI argues that scholars should examine judicial discourse from an interdisciplinary perspective and reevaluate their conceptions about legal rhetoric and rhetorical criticism.

Submitted by Oliveira Santos Dilzaná (dilznana@yahoo.com.br) on 2013-11-04T16:05:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Agindo como experts... Israel de Jesus Rocha.pdf: 1585712 bytes, checksum: fe3c799c892bc9a21686aa216b69fddc (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Portela (anapoli@ufba.br) on 2013-11-18T18:48:53Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Agindo como experts... Israel de Jesus Rocha.pdf: 1585712 bytes, checksum: fe3c799c892bc9a21686aa216b69fddc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-11-18T18:48:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Agindo como experts... Israel de Jesus Rocha.pdf: 1585712 bytes, checksum: fe3c799c892bc9a21686aa216b69fddc (MD5) / A Lei de Biossegurança brasileira, após aprovação, iniciou um longo percurso pelo judiciário que se encerraria três anos mais tarde com a audiência pública e a votação sobre a constitucionalidade da referida lei. Entre uma e outra, uma série de mobilizações em torno da questão envolvendo o uso de embriões para obtenção de células-tronco ganhou os espaços midiáticos, políticos e jurídicos. O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar a controvérsia envolvendo a lei de biossegurança a partir da audiência pública, convocada a partir da ação direta de inconstitucionalidade 3510, no Supremo Tribunal Federal, descrevendo os modos de ação dos cientistas envolvidos com o tema. Para isso, procura recompor a partir de materiais audiovisuais e rastros documentais os traços deixados desde a votação no Congresso até a audiência, ao passo que tenta mostrar como as apresentações dos cientistas são pontualizações que evidenciam e mobilizam uma série de redes sociotécnicas formadas por atores humanos e não-humanos. Nosso ponto de partida considera que as relações entre a ciência e o direito não podem ser concebidas como esferas desarticuladas. Antes, elas são parte do esforço de composição de um mundo em comum para o qual escolhemos aqueles que farão parte ou não de tais arranjos. Conclui-se, então, que os vínculos estabelecidos pela ciência a partir da mobilização dos atores que a sustentam não podem ser vistos de maneira isolada da sociedade, pois há neste processo um esforço de mobilização de outros atores, como o sistema jurídico, que atuam diretamente no sentido de lançar perspectivas de significação e contextos de uso sobre os resultados alcançados pela ciência, sobretudo quando os objetos oferecem riscos e afetam diretamente um número significativo de pessoas. After approval The Biosafety Bill Law in Brazil began a long journey for judiciary that would end three years later with a public hearing and vote on the constitutionality of that law. Between them, a series of demonstrations around the issue involving the use of embryos to obtain stem cells gained the media, political and legal spaces. The objective of this study is to analyze the controversy surrounding the law biosecurity from the public hearing, requested from the direct action of unconstitutionality 3510, in Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court, describing the modes of action of the scientists involved with the topic. For this, demand recover from audiovisual and documentary materialsthe traces left from the vote in Congress by the audience, while trying to show how scientists are punctualizations presentations that highlight and mobilize a range of socio-technical networks formed by human and non-human actors. In this case we consider that the relationship between science and law can not be conceived as disjointed spheres. Rather, they are part of the effort of composing a common world in which we choose those who will be part or not of such arrangements. We conclude that the bonds established by science from the mobilization of actors that support can not be seen in isolation from society, because this process is an effort to mobilize other actors such as the legal system, which act directly to launch perspectives of meaning and contexts of use on the achievements of science, especially when objects pose risks and directly affect a significant number of people.