The Irish Supreme Court will shortly deliver its judgment on litigation commenced against the State by Marie Fleming. Ms. Fleming is terminally ill with multiple sclerosis. She has asked the courts to declare unconstitutional Ireland’s prohibition on physician-assisted suicide. At first instance, a very strong three-judge High Court (Kearns P., Carney and Hogan JJ.) upheld […] Read more

In most jurisdictions, courts have had difficulty in calibrating the appropriate procedures for public office-holders. It is easy to understand why: employment — and dismissal — by public bodies is bound up with statute and thus presents questions that are amenable to judicial review. However, many public employees also benefit from contractual protections, just like […] Read more

In Canada Post Corporation v. Canadian Union of Postal Workers, 2013 BCCA 108, the applicant employer had been accused of using regional forums where management would address employees in order to undermine the respondent union. Here is an excerpt from one of the addresses: I have had unbelievable support from you since I’ve been at […] Read more

Here is an interesting case from Alberta, where administrative law and disability law intersect: Voropanov v Alberta (Municipal Affairs), 2012 ABQB 551.The applicant is the operator of a private club in Calgary: the Oak Leaf. The club offers various services, including a Russian banya, which appears to be a particularly intense type of sauna. Because […] Read more

The Québec Court of Appeal issued an important decision recently, clarifying the appropriate avenues for appeals of (some) administrative decisions: Lebel c. Kanafani, 2013 QCCA 200.At issue here was a complaint against a real estate agent, which was rejected at first instance by the appropriate regulatory body. The applicant then sought leave to appeal to […] Read more

There is little to add to Dr. Mark Elliott’s excellent post on today’s UKSC decision in Jones v. First Tier Tribunal, [2013] UKSC 19. As Mark notes in his comprehensive and thoughtful entry, Lord Carnwath was refreshingly honest about the role that the distinction between law and fact plays in allowing judges to allocate decision-making […] Read more

Doubtless you have been waiting with bated breath for my promised discussion of whether the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Penner v. Niagara (Regional Police Services Board), 2013 SCC 19 is consistent with another recent decision, British Columbia (Workers’ Compensation Board) v. Figliola, 2011 SCC 52. I think it is.In Penner, the […] Read more

What happens when administrative decisions, or decision-making processes, come into contact with the ordinary civil process? I will discuss two important recent Canadian decisions in this post: Penner v. Niagara (Regional Police Services Board), 2013 SCC 19 (Supreme Court of Canada), and Guay c. Gesca ltée, 2013 QCCA 343 (Quebec Court of Appeal). In a […] Read more

In my essay on deference and the copyright cases, I suggested that an innovation the Supreme Court of Canada made in Rogers Communications Inc. v. Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, 2012 SCC 35 would bedevil lower courts. Briefly, the exception suggests that where there is co-ordinate jurisdiction between courts and administrative decision-makers […] Read more

Cass Sunstein has been whetting appetites for his new book, Simpler: the Future of Government (out April 9) by doling out tasty samples of its content (see e.g. here and here). One of these is an essay for Foreign Affairs, “Regulatory Moneyball”. The title is borrowed from Michael Lewis’ superb Moneyball: the Art of Winning […] Read more