SSCI 1010U Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Enforcement Authority, Bourgeoisie, Public Law
23 Feb 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Introduction to Canadian Legal System SSCI 1010U- 001
How is Law Developed and Expressed?
- European settler society in Canada
o Reflects a state-centered approach to law: law is produced and enforced by
government authorities in a highly structured and hierarchical way
▪ Law is a system of rules that are created by a government authority and
supported by the enforcement powers of the state
▪ Rules are created according to formal, centralized, and strictly prescribed
processes and appear in written form as statutes, regulations, and judicial
decisions
▪ Statutes are passed by legislatures; regulations, rules, and policies are
developed by various executive departments; and common law rules are
developed by courts
▪ Legal rules are arranged in a hierarchy, with the Constitution being the
supreme law with which all other laws must comply
▪ Indigenous Legal Traditions: Please jot down what Indigenous Law is
according to these scholars.
- Aboriginal legal tradition
o Represent a deliberative, nonhierarchical, and community-driven process of law
creation
▪ Law is “the expression of the way to live a good life”
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▪ Derives from multiple sources: customs; codes and regulations made by
chiefs and clan elders; creation stories; and observation of the physical
world
▪ Rules are produced in a decentralized matter, often through deliberation
and discussion by community members; such meetings can be formal or
informal, and hoc or highly structured
▪ Law is interrelated with spiritual, political, and other practices of a
community
▪ Some rules are written and others are passed through oral narration from
generation to generation
▪ Spiritual connection to the land is of great significance to the community
▪ Law’s role is to help maintain good relations within the community, with
other communities, and with the land and its inhabitants
- A narrow approach understands law as a system of perceived rules, as it reflects a more
practical orientation of the study of law: we need to know what the rules are in order to
identify our rights and obligations, and to know the consequences of our actions and the
ways to protect our interests
- A broader perspective characterizes law as a process of searching for and formulating
principles by which society should operate
- Law is not statistic; it changes and evolves as a result of deliberation and engagement of
various actors with the law, including individuals in their everyday activities
What are the Functions of the Law?
1. Establishment and maintenance of order in society
- Law establishes rules and parameters of behaviour for individuals, corporations, and the
state
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- It can create incentives to encourage desirable behaviour and impose sanctions to
discourage undesirable conduct
- Two prominent perspectives on society
o The conflict model which relies on the ideas of such philosophers as Thomas
Hobbes and Karl Marx
▪ Hobbes viewed because as selfish and violence hence the purpose of
public institutions and the law would be largely coercive in order to
restrict the violent nature of human beings
▪ Marx viewed the world as two opposing classes: the bourgeoisies and the
proletariat hence law defined by class division is a tool of oppression in
the hands of the rich and powerful bourgeoisie
o The consensual model which relies on the ideas of such philosophers as John
Locke
▪ Locke viewed society as largely peaceful and cooperative hence law is
focused on promoting individual rights and interactions rather than
stringently controlling human behaviour
2. Promotion of justice and fairness
- Distributive justice refers to rules prescribing how resources and entitlements are to be
allocated in a given society
o Allocation can be made according to various criteria: equality, merit, needs,
proportion of one’s contribution, etc.
- Corrective justices focused on remedying inequality that results from wrongdoings or
unfair dealings between individual parties
o Focused on individual interactions
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Document Summary
Introduction to canadian legal system ssci 1010u- 001. Indigenous legal traditions: please jot down what indigenous law is according to these scholars. A broader perspective characterizes law as a process of searching for and formulating principles by which society should operate. Law is not statistic; it changes and evolves as a result of deliberation and engagement of various actors with the law, including individuals in their everyday activities. What are the functions of the law: establishment and maintenance of order in society. Law establishes rules and parameters of behaviour for individuals, corporations, and the state. It can create incentives to encourage desirable behaviour and impose sanctions to discourage undesirable conduct. Two prominent perspectives on society: the conflict model which relies on the ideas of such philosophers as thomas. Locke: locke viewed society as largely peaceful and cooperative hence law is focused on promoting individual rights and interactions rather than stringently controlling human behaviour, promotion of justice and fairness.
