This morning I started things off by finishing off the JCPC's 1937 ruling on the Labour Conventions case. As many will recall, one of the key findings of this ruling was that
“the Dominion cannot, merely by making promises to foreign countries, clothe itself with legislative authority inconsistent with the constitution which gave it birth.”
Of course, one of the classic lines from this ruling is the following:
“While the ship of state now sails on larger ventures and into foreign waters she sill retains the water-tight compartments which are an essential part of her original structure.”
It seems that over time our court rulings have lost the figurative language employed by the members of the JCPC in the early 20th Century. I can't imagine finding a similar passage in a current Supreme Court ruling ( though I guess it is possible that I haven't really read enough of them to know how everybody writes).
A little later in the day I moved on another, though earlier, classic text: The Durham Report. As I have read part of this report before I wasn't too surprised to come face to face with a strong assessment of the contemporary situation near the beginning of the report. Anyway, without further ado, here is one of Durham's famous, and still resonant, lines:
“I expected to find a contest between a government and a people: I found two nations warring in the bosom of a single state : I found a struggle, not of principles, but of races; and I perceived that it would be idle to attempt any amelioration of laws or institutions until we could first succeed in terminating the deadly animosity that now separates the inhabitants of Lower Canada into the hostile divisions of French and English.”
2 comments:
What is your assessment of the 1937 ruling with today's interpretation of NAFTA?
This ruling is what allowed Danny the ability to appropriate the mills in Newfoundland and then have Harper deal with the consequences (the federal government, not the government Newfoundland or any other province, signed the agreement and is thus the only Canadian government bound by it). This issue also arises in relation to things like Kyoto, the feds can agree to the package but only the provinces have the power to implement some of the key changes.
This ruling is still incredibly important and continues to have a big impact on the way in which Canada operates.
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