Commentary on developments in administrative law, particularly judicial review of administrative action by common law courts.
In earlier posts on this week’s s declaration of a “public order emergency”, I have considered whether asset freezing is authorized in a “public order emergency” (see here) and outlined the scope of the emergency measures adopted last night (see here). In this post, I consider the legal standard for declaring a “public order emergency” […] Read more
Last night the federal government published the emergency measures made under the Emergencies Act. I will post separately, in light of these measures, on how the courts are likely to determine (if asked) the standard for declaring a “public order emergency” under Act has been met. My focus on this post is on the strikingly […] Read more
As you all know, the centre of Ottawa is currently occupied by groups protesting a variety of pandemic-related public health measures. In addition, there are blockades at borders elsewhere in the province and in Canada, as well as a variety of protests in cities around the country. Yesterday, the federal government declared a “public order […] Read more
Here is the video from Professor Catherine Sharkey’s presentation to the Administrative Law & Governance Colloquium last week: https://youtu.be/Sh1v8yo3DNs?t=23 Tomorrow evening, Dr. Janina Boughey will be joining us from Sydney. You can tune in here at 8.30 pm EST. And you can register for the rest of the series here. Read more
The next speaker in this year’s Administrative Law & Governance Colloquium on automation, digitization and artificial intelligence in public administration will be Janina Boughey from the University of New South Wales, discussing her edited collection, The Automated State, at the unusual time of 8.30pm eastern (morning the following day Down Under). You can register here […] Read more
The British Association of Comparative Law has kindly allowed me to post on the comparative law aspects of Understanding Administrative Law in the Common Law World. The post begins: I am happy to describe myself as a comparative lawyer. I studied law in my native Ireland, before doing an LLM in the United States and […] Read more
Joe Tomlinson and I are finalizing an edited collection on methodology in public law. Here are some thoughts… Lawyers are notorious amongst scholars of the humanities and social sciences for failing to engage in detailed analysis of methodology. This perception is justified. As lawyers often – and in some cases exclusively – write to be […] Read more
Professor Peter Cane is one of the most prolific and important scholars of administrative law. His comparative work on administrative tribunals and controlling administrative power is outstanding, his Clarendon text on administrative law an excellent entry point into the subject (as is his co-authored text on Australian administrative law) and his many articles and book […] Read more
I have posted “The Generation and Guardianship of Constitutional Principles” to SSRN: There is a tendency, certainly amongst lawyers, to think that it is exclusively the role of the courts to develop or identify constitutional principles and then to guard them. When considering constitutional principles in the Canadian setting, judicial pronouncements (as in the Secession […] Read more
This year’s Administrative Law & Governance Colloquium kicks off next week with Professor Catherine Sharkey of New York University. The Colloquium will be virtual and, of course, free of charge. You can register here. Professor Sharkey will be discussing the report she co-authored for the Administrative Conference of the United States on artificial intelligence in […] Read more