Showing papers in "McGill Law Journal in 2000"

Rational Recreation and the Law: The Transformation of Popular Urban Leisure in Victorian England

Abstract: Popular urban recreation underwent a radical transformation in nineteenth-century England. Rowdy and brutal pre-industrial leisure activities in the city streets gave way after the 1850s to more \"rational\", disciplined, morally respectable, and physically segregated pastimes. This article investigates the role of the courts in this complex development. Through a variety of coercive and facilitative strategies, the judiciary performed a critical function in moulding the major institutions and practices of urban leisure. Acutely sensitive to the relative position of various recreations on the spectrum of Victorian respectability, judges applied the criminal law to eradicate disfavoured street activities such as prize fights and football; used public administrative and private nuisance law to enhance the \"rational\" features of quasi-respectable establishments such as music halls; and creatively adapted customary law to foster \"desirable\" leisure pursuits such as amateur athleticism. The article concludes that the judiciary complemented its assiduous efforts to cleanse the thoroughfares of undesirable activities by establishing specified urban sites for \"morally appropriate\" popular sports and exercise. In marked contrast to their treatment of popular rights in the political and economic spheres-such as claims by political protestors to demonstrate or trade unionists to picketjudges in the recreational context willingly vindicated communal \"rights to recreation\" and allocated private property for acceptable popular uses. The courts thus played an important role in demarcating nineteenth-century English cultural life into a series of physically discrete and morally ordered spaces. En Angleterre, les loisirs populaires urbains ont connu une transformation radicale au IX' sikcle. Au cours de la deuxi~me moitid du XI si~cle, les loisirs et divertissements de rue de l'poque pr6industrielle, souvent bmutaux et peu raffinds, furent remplac~s par des passe-temps plus crationnels>>, disciplines, moralement respectables et organis6s en secteurs d'activit6. Le pr6sent article enquete sur le r~le qu'ontjou6 les tribunaux dans ce processus complexe. Par le biais de mesures coercitives et incitatives, la magistrature joua un r6le d6cisif en orientant et fagonnant les principales institutions et pratiques des passe-temps urbais. Les juges, fort conscients de Ia position relative qu'ocupaient certains passe-temps dans ]a gamme d'activit.s jug6es respectables A l'6poque victorienne, appliqu~rent le droit pdnal de mani~re coercitive pour 6liminer les jeux de rue en d~faveur tels que le football. Ceux-ci employrent 6galement le droit public administratif et le droit privd de nuisance pour mettre en valeur les qualit6s < des dtablissements quasi respectables tels que les music-halls, et employ~rent le droit coutumier de faqon cr6ative pour encourager des passe-temps osouhaitables > tels que l'athl6tisme amateur. L'article conclut que Ia magistrature, pour soutenir ses efforts assidus d'6radication des activit6s non-dsires, d6signa des secteurs urbains sp&cifiques pour l'exercice de sports et d'activit s physiques populaires jug6s (>. En contradiction avec leur prise de position sur les droits des opposants politiques et des syndiquds, les juges, dans le contexte rcr~atif, firent valoir le <'droit aux loisirs,> des communautds et allou~rent des propri&s priv.es pour des usages populaires juges acceptables. C'est de cette fagon que les tribunaux ontjou6 un r6le important dans la drlimitation de la vie culturelle du XIX sikcle en Angleterre en une sdrie d'espaces discrets et moralement ordonnds.

More Censorship or Less Discrimination? Sexual Orientation Hate Propaganda in Multiple Perspectives

Abstract: If hate propaganda pits anti-censorship advocates against ani-discrimi ion advocates, sexual minorities occupy an ambiguous position in this debate. Because they often find themselves fighting against censorship--and have, at least in the United States, made more gains in this area than in that of equal protection-sexual minorities have traditionally promoted strong freedom of expression values. However, recent advances in jurisprudence interpreting the Canadian Charier of Rights and Freedoms. particularly the inclusion of sexual orientation as an analogous prohibited ground for discrimination under section 15, have prompted sexual minorities to pursue a vigorous antidiscrimination agenda. This agenda recently culminated in the Supreme Court of Canada's decisions in riend v. Alberta and M. v. H., which, by reading sexual orientation into a provincial human rights statute and extending spousal support to same-sex couples, provide considerable authority for extending Canada's Criminal Code hate propaganda provisions to sexual minorities. At the same time, a growing body of comparative and international law--in particular the United Nations Human Rights Committee's recent decision in Toonen v. Australia-has extended the norm of anti-discrimination to sexual minorities. These developments, combined with Canada's wellestablished commitment to criminalizing hate and its emerging commitment to substantive equality, suggest that sexual orientation hate propaganda is best analyzed as an issue of discrimination, not censorship. This conclusion should commend the extension of hate propaganda measures to protect sexual minorities to even those gay rights activists who dread further incursions into civil liberties. Les minoritds smexules occupent une poitioa ambigu'd dans I da at sur la propaganda haimuse. qui oppose les partisans de mesmtes anti-cnsure Ai ceux dz nur ant-discrimination. En effet. parce qu'cItes doiet souvent ddfendre leur propre liber6 d'expressioa et oat. strtout aux ttats-Unis connu dans cc domainm dis sur cs plus significatifs que dans ceii d ldgafitS d protection. les minorits sexuelles se son faites les dfen-urs d la libert6 d'exprcssion. Les prj8 r¢s de lajurispnxuenre sous la Charre canadienme des drois el libercs. doant rinclusion de l'oientation sexulle au nombre des motifs analogues de discrimination prohil. oant touzefois men ces minoritds a faire de la lue judiciaire conte la discrimintation une priorit. Leur ction mna 5 des r&..d concrets A travers les dkisions de la Cour supi'me du Canada dans Vend c. Albena et At. c. H. qui supportent par une autorit6 considtrable 1'extemion des dispositions du Code criminel portant sur la propaganda hainec at, minoritds sexuelles. Lc droit comparn et international en particulier la d6cision du Comitd des drols d 'Homme des Nations Unies dans Toonen c. Australie pennt 6galement de constater un d argissement des nomas anidiscrimination aux minoritds sexuelles. Ces dlvhlaements r:ents, s'ajouant a I'engagement du Canadai ciiminaliser les manifestations de hai et Z ccIuL plus rdcent. h protiger le droit A I',gali he m nt A [a conclusion qua la propagande haineusc relide i'orientation sexulle doit etre analyst en termes de discrimination plutZt qua de censure. Cette conclusion devrait mmr m2e les aztivi es homosexuels qui craignent Ils limitations aum droits d: la personne a supporter I'extension des mesures comic la propagande haineuse arm de promger lea membres des minoritls sexuelles.

Do Codes of Ethics Actually Shape Legal Practice

Abstract: In theory, professional codes of conduct are supposed to assist lawyers in choosing the appropriate course of action when they are faced with an ethical dilemma and it is expected that lawyers will, in practice, turn to such codes for guidance. A recent research initiative undertaken by legal scholars at the University of Western Ontario sought to examine the effectiveness of codes of ethics in maintaining standards of behaviour within the legal profession in Ontario by examining the kinds of ethical problems confronting lawyers in that province and the extent to which they were resolved through the use of professional codes.This article examines the nature of ethical codes in the legal profession and offers an analysis of particular results of the research initiative. The authors conclude that the research demonstrates a lack of reliance on professional codes for the purpose of resolving ethical issues by the majority of lawyers practicing in Ontario. Moreover, the study revealed that such codes tend to inhibit ethical deliberation by those lawyers who refer to them for assistance in solving specific problems. The results of the study will, in the authors' opinion, encourage the legal profession in Ontario to re-examine the efficacy of existing codes of professional conduct and the role they should play in shaping lawyers' ethical decision-making.

Augusto Pinochet and International Law

Abstract: This article explores the interplay between historicized law and normative standards of human rights law by considering how the House of Lords dealt with the question of General Pinochet's immunity. By selecting a normative account of state power, the law lords aligned themselves with evolving standards of humanitarian law, articulated in, for example, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhunman or Degrading Treament or Punislunent, the law of %var, and the Geneva Conventions, and the recent intervention in Kosovo. Although appealing, the normative position is far from unassailable, from both principled and pragmatic angles. The author questions, for example, whether a foreign court can support universal jurisdiction and limitations of official acts of immunity based on normative customary international law, or whether this requires ex ante treaty assent by the state where the offence took place and by the state of the offendes nationality. How to avoid destabilizing new democratic regimes is another problem that attends the use of national courts to try extraterritorial crimes under universal jurisdiction. Legal and diplomatic questions such as this may be responsible for the hedged position the British government finally adopted in the case against Pinochet. Such questions also lend uncertainty to more recent cases, where governments have tried to enforce normative international law to apprehend a foreign state official for crimes against humanity. Despite the dangers of universal jurisdiction, however, the author concludes that the ambiguity of the Pinodiet decision permits a nuanced application of its principles. Uauteur, examinant ta dcisison de [a Chanbr des Lords sur la question de 'immunitd du gdnr-al Pinochat. attire l'attention sur l'interaction entre I droit dans son contexte historique et les standards nomnaifs da droit international humanitaire En adoptant une approehnormative du pouvoir dtatique. les lords se sent inscrits dans la mouvance des nouveaux standards du droit humanitaire international, tels qu'aticulds dans la Convention sur la torture, le droit gdn&al de la guerre at les conventions de Gcnve, et tels qu'ils sc sent anifestos, par exemple, par 'intervention r.cente at Kosovo. Cette position normative, blen quattirante, est toutefois loin d'Etre incontestable, autant sur le plan des prin-ipes qua d'un point de vue pragmatiquc. Par exempie, on peut sa demander si une cour dtrang&e peUt exer= unz comp tnce universelle et limiter les immunits statutaires en se basant uniquement sur le droit couturnier international, ou si cela requiert i'assentiment prt&lab!e da Itat o la violation a eu lieu at da l'ttat & nationalitd du responsable. La nkcssiti d'dviter &d2stabiliser das rigimes damocratiques dmergents par l'utilis.tion &la competence univcrselle pour amenar d2s crimes extraterritoriatix devant lajustice constitue dgalemant un problame important. Des questions ldgales at dip!omatiquas de cette nature sont peut-re h I'originaz da la position ambivalente finalement adopt6c par le gouvemrnznt britannique dans 'affaire Pinachet. Elles soul'vent dgalement de 'incertitude dans des cas plus r&ents, ot d:s gouverements ont tent d'appliquer le droit international en apprahendant des responsables dtatiques Ctrangers pour crimes contre l'humanit& ahlgr ls dangers da la comptence universella, l'autcur con-Jut toutefois, da manih-e optimiste, que cette ambig&fi ngnea 4t unz application nuancde des principesde lad&ision Piwdchrt.