POLI 342 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Judicial Activism, Supreme Court Act, Judicial Restraint
11 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Judicial activism
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
1:06 PM
Quiz
• Despite the increasing power of courts, the Parliament continue to exersice its sovereignty to a
certain extent. Discuss.
• Nam to controversies concerning the senate.
• Nothing can be reformed in relation to the Senate reform without the unanimous concent of the
provinces. True or false?
• True for abolition, but not required for property qualifications and other amendments.
• Reference re Supreme Court Act S. 5 and 6
• Concerning the eligibility of members of the QC courts and the QC Bar to be appointed to the
three seats on the SC reserved for QC
• Eligibility for appointment can only be amended by a unanimous constitutional amendment
consented by the federal government and all ten provinces
• The SC is part of the Canadian constitutional architecture
• Reference re Senate Reform 2014
• Creating rule of amendment
• Is it the function of the courts to create rules? Judicial activism
• The federal government seeks to reform the senate through the unilateral federal amendment
procedure of the constitution of Canada
• The SC rule that:
• Only property qualifications can be changed through the federal amendment procedure
• For change of composition of abolition, unanimity required
• For change in appointment process need 7/50 rule
• Canada (attorney general) V. Bedford 2013
• Three sex workers argued that Canada's prostitution laws are unconstitutional and infringe their
right to security under S. 7 of the charter
• SC rules that…
• What is judicial activism?
• Accusation that a court has engaged in policymaking or has made the law rather than interpreting
or applying the law
• Conceived as posing a threat to democracy. Policy making is reserved for democratic branches,
not unelected judges.
• Judicial activism is judicial restraint. A restrained court resists engaging in policy making
• Relevance of the debate over judicial activism
• Not only a disagreement with or ideological objection to a judicial decision
• But also a legitimate concern about the role of courts in interpreting the law and respecting their
proper institutional role
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Document Summary
Quiz: despite the increasing power of courts, the parliament continue to exersice its sovereignty to a certain extent. Discuss: nam to controversies concerning the senate, nothing can be reformed in relation to the senate reform without the unanimous concent of the provinces. Judicial activism procedure of the constitution of canada: the sc rule that, only property qualifications can be changed through the federal amendment procedure. For change of composition of abolition, unanimity required. For change in appointment process need 7/50 rule: canada (attorney general) v. bedford 2013, three sex workers argued that canada"s prostitution laws are unconstitutional and infringe their right to security under s. 7 of the charter. Sc rules that : what is judicial activism, accusation that a court has engaged in policymaking or has made the law rather than interpreting or applying the law, conceived as posing a threat to democracy. Policy making is reserved for democratic branches, not unelected judges.
