In my two earlier posts on the “third source” (here and here) I discussed the appropriate test for classifying government powers and whether they could be treated as arising from statute (as, on a generous reading, Lord Sumption suggested in R. (New London College Ltd.) v. Home Secretary, [2013] UKSC 51. In this post, I […] Read more

In my previous post, I laid out the details of the New London College case and some disagreement amongst the judges of the UK Supreme Court about third source powers. In this post I address the caveat I referred to previously and the possibility that third source powers can be statutory in nature. Mark Elliott […] Read more

Over at Public Law for Everyone, Mark Elliott has an excellent post on the UK Supreme Court’s recent decision in R. (New London College Ltd.) v. Home Secretary, [2013] UKSC 51. The decision features a slight divergence of views between Lords Sumption and Carnwath on the scope of governmental powers. I am going to break […] Read more

Angela Cameron and I have posted our forthcoming Supreme Court Law Review essay on Charter values and administrative decision-making in the context of education law: “Furthering Substantive Equality through Administrative Law: Charter Values in Education“. Here is the abstract: Recent decisions in the realm of Canadian public law have opened the door to Charter values. […] Read more

A long-running battle being waged by employees of Health Canada against their employer’s drug-approval procedures gives a glimpse of the law on the reopening of administrative decisions: Chopra v. Canada (Attorney General), 2013 FC 644.Here, the original complaint made by the employees to the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner was investigated and dismissed (though only after […] Read more

Nova Scotia (Community Services) v. T.G., 2012 NSCA 43 is a sad case about adoption. Sad because of the facts and sad because lengthy litigation has prevented a young child being placed in a permanent home.The child’s siblings were in the care of another family. Initially, the child at the centre of the case was […] Read more

Somewhat obvious, one would have thought! One can imagine the surprise of the applicant in Can-Euro Investments Ltd. v. Ollive Properties Ltd., 2013 NSCA 80, who, having withdrawn an appeal before the Utility and Review Board was nonetheless strongly criticized in a decision handed down weeks later. The relevant facts can be briefly recounted: [26]   […] Read more

Economical Mutual Insurance Company v. British Columbia (Information and Privacy Commissioner), 2013 BCSC 903 is a very interesting case.An insurance company pulled up the credit score of an applicant who was applying for a renewal of his policy. The individual complained to the Information and Privacy Commissioner that he had not consented to the company […] Read more

An interesting aspect of the Irish Supreme Court decision in EMI Records (Ireland) Ltd. v. The Data Protection Commissioner, [2013] IESC 34 is that judicial review proceedings were taken by the applicants even though they were not targeted by the enforcement notice issued by the respondent. This notice was legally flawed: see my previous post […] Read more

I posted some harsh(ish) words previously about the Irish Supreme Court’s position on the right to reasons. More recently, in EMI Records (Ireland) Ltd. v. The Data Protection Commissioner, [2013] IESC 34, the Court has laid its position out with more clarity. The factual  background is important. An internet provider entered into a settlement with […] Read more