Chapter 1 – Heritage of Law. The Role of Law in a Democratic Society. Agenda. 1. Take-up R. v. Lavalee 2. The Role of Law in a Democratic Society 3. Hwk . Oakes case (reading and questions). Learning Goal for Today.
An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentationDownload Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author.Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link.While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server.During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.
E N D
Presentation Transcript
Chapter 1 – Heritage of Law
The Role of Law in a Democratic Society
Agenda 1. Take-up R. v. Lavalee 2. The Role of Law in a Democratic Society 3. Hwk. Oakes case (reading and questions)
Learning Goal for Today By the end of the lesson, students will be able to describe the role of law in a democratic society & identify the distinction between a policy and principled argument
Expectations CGE7e – witnesses Catholic social teaching by promoting equality, democracy, and solidarity for a just, peaceful and compassionate society Trace the development of law from its primary sources… in social and political philosophy
The Role of Law in a Democratic Society When does the idea of majority rules work in society?
The Role of Law in a Democratic Society Ex. BC HST – Policy/pragmatic issue
*The Role of Law in a Democratic Society Principled issues are where the legal system plays an important role & where the legal system quite often kicks in Brings out the issue of the conflict between the common good v. making space for the individual (i.e. protecting individual rights)
*The Role of Law in a Democratic Society Rights create space within which individuals can form & pursue individual projects Rights trump community good in some cases
*The Role of Law in a Democratic Society Arguments of Policy are for the collective good of the community Usually originate with government ex. free high quality high school
*The Role of Law in a Democratic Society Arguments of principle respect some individual or group right Ex. Freedom of Religion Ex. Anti-discrimination provisions of the Charter and the Human Rights Code
*The Role of Law in a Democratic Society Some arguments can be both a policy and a principle argument Ex. Free High Quality High School (class discussion)
The Role of Law in a Democratic Society One modern legal philosopher, Dworkin, thinks that what legitimizes the legal system is that it legitimizes arguments of principle Judges – appointed – don’t have to run for office – rights v. Politicians – elected to talk about & pursue collective goals
The Role of Law in a Democratic Society The way to protect right of individuals isn’t about democracy, it’s about what rights people have Ex. Illegal search & seizure – individual rights trump collective good of protection of society
*The Role of Law in a Democratic Society Section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
*The Role of Law in a Democratic Society Under the Charter, courts will examine arguments of principle, but will also consider arguments of policy Section 1 requires the courts to balance all different rights against each other, considering rights holistically as a whole
The Role of Law in a Democratic Society What is a reasonable limit? What does it mean to be prescribed by law? What does it mean if a limit is demonstrably justified in a free & democratic society?
*The Role of Law in a Democratic Society What about notwithstanding clause? Section 33 of the Charter allows a government to temporarily (up to 5 years) keep a law in place, even if it violates the Charter Generally, same as s.1 argument
The Role of Law in a Democratic Society Doesn’t this completely gut the Charter?
The Role of Law in a Democratic Society Ex. Common law partner rights to support in Quebec upon breaking up Need to discuss distinction between gov’t disagreeing for policy reasons (ignoring trump of individual rights) v. disagreeing b/c they thing it is a bad law
Obligatory Humour Break
The Role of Law in a Democratic Society Oakes Case – Homework – Read handout online (Classnet – Unit I Heritage – Case 2 – Oakes & do ?’s KU 1,3, A 1)