McGill Law Journal 

About: McGill Law Journal is an academic journal published by Consortium Erudit. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Supreme court & Common law. It has an ISSN identifier of 0024-9041. Over the lifetime, 416 publications have been published receiving 3360 citations. The journal is also known as: McGill Law J..

Legal Origins: Reconciling Law & Finance and Comparative Law

Abstract: Law and finance scholars have increasingly relied upon comparative law in the last few years. The work of these scholars has considered, in empirical terms, the effect that legal rules and their enforcement have on financial development in different countries. These studies have routinely adopted the traditional distinction between civil law and common law countries. Whether this revival of legal families (or legal origins) is a useful way forward is, however, a matter of debate. The author challenges the methodology these studies adopt and argues instead for reliance on characteristic features of national legal systems, as distinct from systemic origins, as a basis for analysis.

Qu’est ce que l’interculturalisme ?

Abstract: L’auteur presente l’interculturalisme comme modele d’integration et de gestion de la diversite ethnoculturelle. Il s’inspire du parcours quebecois amorce depuis les annees 1960-1970, mais aussi de la reflexion et des experiences conduites en Europe ou la philosophie interculturaliste a d’importantes racines. Au Quebec, l’interculturalisme beneficie presentement de larges appuis dans la population (comme l’ont montre les audiences publiques de la Commission Bouchard-Taylor), mais fait aussi l’objet d’importantes critiques. Un second objectif consiste a repudier certains malentendus qui ont introduit de la confusion dans le debat public, plus specialement au Quebec. L’auteur demontre que : l’integration collective est un processus global concernant l’ensemble des citoyens et des composantes d’une societe et non seulement l’insertion des immigrants ; l’interculturalisme n’est pas une forme deguisee de multiculturalisme ; l’integration est fondee sur un principe de reciprocite ; le pluralisme et le principe de la reconnaissance ne conduisent nullement a la fragmentation ; le pluralisme est une option generale pouvant recevoir diverses applications correspondant a autant de modeles, dont le multiculturalisme ; le type de pluralisme preconise par l’interculturalisme peut etre qualifie d’integrateur ; les accommodements ne sont pas des privileges, ils n’ont pas ete concus uniquement pour les immigrants et ne donnent pas libre cours aux valeurs, croyances ou pratiques contraires aux normes fondamentales de la societe ; l’interculturalisme se soucie autant des interets de la majorite culturelle que des interets des minorites et des immigrants ; et sauf circonstances extremes, les solutions radicales conviennent rarement a la nature des problemes que pose la diversite ethnoculturelle.

Same-Sex Sexualities and the Globalization of Human Rights Discourse

Abstract: In the past decade, a “double movement of globalization” has taken place in the realm of gay rights. On the one hand, a globalization of human rights has occurred, whereby human rights have become a key criterion by which the “progress” of nations is evaluated. On the other hand, there has been a globalization of same-sex sexualities as identities. These movements have the potential to conflict with, rather than complement, each other in terms of progressing toward a greater recognition of gay rights worldwide: resistance to cosmopolitan claims to gay rights is often grounded in communitarian claims based in the language of the right of self-determination of a people. The article argues, however—largely through the use of case studies (Tasmania, Zimbabwe, and Romania)— that the discourse of universal human rights can and has been used successfully by local gay rights activists. This has taken place through the use of several strategies: the recognition of multiple and intersecting identities; the development of a discourse by which international legal standards become part of the “essence of a people”; and by the reclaiming of an authentic gay past within a national community context. In this way, gay rights activists have become able to move seamlessly between discourses of the local and the global. Ultimately, the article concludes, gay rights struggles will be most successful when they not only engage in the protection of human rights for individuals based on international human rights standards but also fight for inclusion at the level of communitarian political debate within the larger society.