Final Exam Study Flashcards
The law of contract is an agreement that is _____?
Legally binding or at the very least has legal consequences
What are the 7 elements to a contract?
Intention to create a legal relationship.
Offer
Acceptance
Consideration
Capacity
Legality
Consensus ad idem
One party makes an offer to another party
Offer
Thing of value that is the subject matter of the contract
Consideration
I offer to film a video for Jay for $500
Consideration
Person who the promise has been made
Promisee
Person who is making the promise
Benefit given or detriment suffered
Parties presumed capable of creating their rights and obligations
Freedom to contract
Our overarching division of law is called
positive law
We have domestic and _________________ law
public international
What are the two subcategories of domestic law?
Procedural or adjectival law
substantive law
What are the two subcategories of substantive law?
Public and Private law
Tax law is a part of what type of law?
public
constitutional law is a part of what type of law?
Public
criminal law is a part of what type of law?
Public
Contract law is a part of what type of law?
Private
Tort Law is a part of what type of law?
Private law
Property law is a part of what type of law?
Private law
Explain how ‘a law’ and ‘the law’ are different
‘a law’ is a rule of conduct while ‘the law’ is the sum of the total laws
The attempt to make choices based on rationality and consistency
the administration of justice
What does the rule of law describe?
an ordered society
What does the rule of law suggest?
independence from the executive branch of government
One aspect of the rule of law explains the avoidance of retroactive decision-making. What is meant by this?
Not to punish past actions after the fact. To avoid punishing previously legal acts.
Public and private law are the 2 subdivisions of what type of law?
domestic
The area of law where the public interest is involved
Public law
Law that relates to the various components of a federal state
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is:
law that relates to the various components of a federal state
What is administrative law?
might pertain to private matters but involve/promote public interest
A television station wants to renew its license for airtime. It reaches out to an administrative tribunal. A decision would consider the benefit to the public interest when deciding if the license should be renewed.
What type of law scenario is this?
Administrative law
How is criminal law considered a public interest?
A crime is regarded as an offense against the state, against the people, and against public interest.
How is taxation law considered public interest?
It deals with matters that involve the funding of the government and public programs.
What are the 4 areas of public law?
constitutional, administrative, criminal, and taxation law
What are the 3 areas of private law?
Contract law, torts, property law
People who would voluntarily like to bind themselves into legal relationships
Contract law
What are torts?
It is concerned with the violation of others’ private rights
What is property law?
Concerned with legal rights pertaining to property ownership
Concerned with the violation of others’ private rights
Tort law
Concerned with legal rights pertaining to property ownership
Property law?
How many provinces are in Common law?
9
___ law system is codified while ____ law system is not
Civil, common
How does common law operate?
By extracting existing principles of law from previous cases
How does civil law operate?
Using civil code principles as a basis for determination
What is tender of performance?
When you have to pay for something under contract
When you have to pay for something under contract
tender of performance
What are the two main sources of law?
Statutory enactments and cases
What are the 2 forms of legislation under statutes?
primary legislation, subordinate legislation
What is primary legislation?
Legislation passed by a sovereign legislative body
Legislation passed by a sovereign legislative body
Primary legislation
Legislation enacted by a person, body, or tribunal
Subordinate legislation
What is subordinate legislation?
Legislation enacted by a person, body, or tribunal
What is case law?
Preceding cases that are used as a guide for deciding future cases
Preceding cases that are used as a guide for deciding future cases
Case law
What is case law referred to?
Common law
A bill is generally passed by
A parliamentary council
How do statutes come about?
Passed through legislation and is susceptible to change
Freedom under the law, equal justice under the law
Rule of law
When it wasn’t illegal when I did it I can’t be charged
Retro-active decision making
Administrative law is supposed to be more _____?
efficient
How is Quebec’s law system different?
They go off of the civil code rather than common law
What is the difference between the common vs civil law?
common law is procedural while the civil code is substantive
Stare decisis means
to stand by decisions and not to disturb settled matters
Based on certainty, meaning that cases are treated alike. Based on fairness meaning that the same result is met when met with similar facts.
Stare decisis
to stand by decisions and not to disturb settled matters
Stare decisis
ratio decidenti means
the reason for deciding
The reason for deciding
ration decidenti
The result in the case is explained by
Ratio decidenti
Obiter dicta means
things said by the way. They are not binding on lower courts.
What is binding authority?
Courts only follow decisions from courts that are higher up on the judicial hierarchy
Courts only follow decisions from courts that are higher up on the judicial hierarchy
binding authority
What is the difference between binding and pervasive authority
Pervasive is used to convince, while binding authority is a must consider.
The decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada are binding to…
…all other courts of Canada
The process of interpreting what a law means, how it can be applied, and the intent of the laws creation
Statutory interpretation
What is statutory interpretation
The process of interpreting what a law means, how it can be applied, and the intent of the laws creation
What are the 3 elements of modern statutory interpretation?
Meaning of words
Context
Purpose
Civil rights is ___ law
Private
Primary legislation is called
the act
Parliamentary supremacy means
the parliament has the authority to make a law
“held” means
decided
Any opinion in which disagreement is expressed with the reasoning or outcome and does not create binding precedent nor does it become a part of case law
Dissenting opinion
What are the 7 elements of a contract?
Intention for legal relationship
Offer
Acceptance
Consideration
Capacity
Legal
Consensus ad idem
Consensus ad idem means
Meeting of the minds
Do the parties know what they’re getting into?
Meeting of the minds
Do the parties know what they’re getting into?
Consensus ad idem
Consensus ad idem means that _____________________ and ________________
Parties know what they’re getting into, understand the nature of the contract
What is an adhesion contract?
The document sets out the terms are already determined
Take it or leave it
A contract that already sets out the terms is called a(n)
Adhesion contract
Tort law involves
the law of actionable wrongs. It maps out what the law recognizes as grounds for being allowed to sue.
Tort law requires a lower ______________
standard of proof
What are the two types of tort?
Intentional and unintentional
What don’t you need to prove to sue in an intentional tort case?
Damage or harm
Defamation is a(n) ______ tort
intentional
What don’t you need to prove to sue in an intentional tort case?
harm or injury
What are the 5 elements of unintentional tort?
- Duty of care
- Standard of care
- Breach of care
- Causation (did it cause harm?)
- Damage
The elements of intentional tort (duty of care, standard of care, breach of care, causation, and damage) are observed in a _____ fashion.
linear
What is more important in an unitentional tort case? Duty of care or damages?
Duty of care
What is the law of libel and slander called?
defamation law
What are the 5 elements of defamation?
- you need to be capable of being defamed
- if the statement were believed, hatred would be expected upon the victim
- Must be directed at someone specific
- Must be directed at the plaintiff as an individual
- Must be published, communicated
Can you be liable for republishing defamatory content?
Yes
Name 6 defences for defamation
Justification (statements were substantially true)
fair comment (opinion based on fact)
absolute priviledge (in court)
qualified privilege (journalist)
unintentional
consent
What is justification in a defamation defense?
Statement that is assumed true
What is fair comment in a defamation defense?
Kind of valid to make the statement that is based on fact and with no malicious intent
What is absolute privilege in a defamation defense?
If you say things in a situation where you are entitled to say it like in court
What is qualified privilege in a defamation defense?
Journalists and their relationship to the press, landlords and their former tenant (like in a reference or wtvr)
Why is libel and slander kind of a silly distinction now?
The distinction does not really make any sense now
What is actionable per se?
No need to prove harm
What are non-pecuniary damages?
Getting money for pain and suffering
Punitive damages are…
It is to punish the person to make an example of the defendant. Like charging McDonald’s millions for the coffee burns
What is anti SLAPP legislation?
Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation
What is a GAG proceeding?
If you’re sued for defamation but it relates to public interest it can be dismissed
What is copyright?
Property in the legal sense. To hold property in tangible things (intellectual property). A right to copy
How did copyright come to be
It came about in the 1920s but after some changes in the 30s, there weren’t any changes for another 50 years
Casets came and there was an issue with artists’ music being rerecorded (1988)
What is copyright most prevalent with?
Technology
How long does copyright protect your intellectual property?
Used to be 50 years but is now 70
What does copyright protect?
Original work
Copying only
What is protected by copyright?
Sound recordings, cd’s, literary, dramatic, musical, artistic work, an arrangement of existing work
What is kind of weird about copyright?
Your sounds are protected automatically without registering but it does help with the validity
What is a motion for summary judgment?
A way to convince the court you don’t need to have a trial
In a copyright case, what does the plaintiff have to prove?
They are the owner, that their is copying of protectable expression, and that copying is improper expropriation
What is vicarious liability?
A wrongdoing through the actions of someone else, like an Ikea driver smoking your dog, you sue Ikea.
Who is the plaintiff in criminal law?
the state
Who has jurisdiction in criminal law?
the federal government
When did we codify criminal law?***
1892
There are no common-law offenses but there are common law ________
defenses
If you are on your own trial, you cannot be your own __________
witness
The crown attorney is basically _______________
a lawyer for the governemnt
Intentionally applying force without consent
Assault
mens rea means
guilty mind
Duress isn’t allowed for murder because
your right to life isn’t more than an innocent person
Until 1949 the highest court of appeal was
the privy council in England
Bill of rights is
the types of laws the government can pass
Putting the law on trial
Judicial Activism
Who prosecutes a case for a highway traffic law?
The crown
The landlord and tenant board is part of what type of sublaw?
Administrative law
Which are publicly debated, acts or regulations?
Acts
introduced by member of governing party, deals with general legislation
Public Bill
introduced by member of governing party, limited to particular entity
Private bill
What is the mischief rule?
Interpret the law to suppress the mischief, or advance the remedy, intended by the law
Benefit given, or a detriment suffered
Consideration
What is the general premise of Caril v Carbolic Smoke Ball?
A company advertised their smoke ball as a product that would prevent influenca. To encourage people that they’re not capping, they said they’d give anyone 100 pounds if they used the ball according to the instructions and still got sick. To hype it up even more they said in the ad they deposited 1000 in the bank.
So when Shawty bought the ball, used it accordingly, and got sick, she sued the defendant in contract.
What were some of the defenses made in the Caril v Carbolic Smokeball case?
No offer was made to the plaintiff (held because the ad was made public, the public was the offeree)
No communication of acceptance (held because the offer implied communication was not required)
No intention to create legal relationship with the plaintiff (held because of the 100-pound offerance)
There was no consideration because she bought it from the drugstore (the defendant benefited when she purchased it from the drug store)
The Caril v Carbolic smoke ball case offered a new perspective on __________, and allowed for the acceptance of a contract to be ____________, it doesn’t always need to be ___________.
It offered an interesting perspective on consideration
Acceptance can be the performance of obligations, it doesn’t always need to be communicated
What is the general premise of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash investments
Boots Cash was a drug store where customers would grab stuff off the shelves and but them. Pharmaceutical society (the governing body that regulated the pharmaceutical industry) sent two “customers” to buy stuff that contained poisons.
PS then claimed that the transaction was illegal because poison should be sold under pharmacist supervision.
Why did the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Investments case fail?
The plaintiff tried to claim that the contractual transaction was illegal because the poison was sold under no supervision because the customers could grab it off the shelves. It failed because the customers are allowed to put the thing back on the shelf, it is only when it is brought to the shelf that it is actually an accepted purchase.
What is the general premise of the Dickinson v. Dodds case
The general premise of the Dickinson v Dodds case, a landmark legal case in contract law, revolves around the concept of revocation of an offer.
In this case, Dickinson offered to sell his property to Dodds, but before Dodds could accept the offer, Dickinson sold the property to someone else. Dodds was informed of this by a third party before he could communicate his acceptance.
The central question was whether Dickinson’s offer was still open for acceptance or if it had been effectively revoked by his actions.
The court held that the offer had been effectively revoked due to Dickinson’s sale of the property to another party before Dodds accepted the offer, rendering the contract void.
This case established the principle that an offer can be revoked at any time before it is accepted, even if the revocation is communicated by a third party.
Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Investments was what type of legal case?
Contract law
In the Dickinson v. Dodds case, why was the offer to keep the decision open not technically binding in the contract?
Because it was a gratuitous promise, meaning there was no consideration (benefit given, or determined suffered) for that promise
What is the premise of the BRINKIBON LTD V STAHAG STAHL G.M.B.H case?
Stahag makes a counteroffer to Brikibon, and Brikibon accepts it, sending the communication of acceptance of the counteroffer to Stahl in Austria by means of a telex.
When Stahag Stahl doesn’t fulfill their end of a contract due to lack of trust after they realize they’re dealing with a thrid party, Brinkibon sues.
When Brikbon sues, it is a matter of where to hold the case (UK or Vienna) because there is difficulty classifying what a telex is (mail, or a phone call).
If an offeree, when responding to an offer, proposes terms that are different from the original offer – the original offer is…
automatically revoked and the offeree is now the offeror of a counteroffer
What was the key challenge in the BRINKIBON LTD V STAHAG STAHL G.M.B.H case?
Whether a telex should be classified as mail, meaning the contract was made in the UK and therefore the case could be held in the UK
Or if a telex should be classified as an instantaneous communication, meaning the contract was made in Austria and therefore the case can be held in Austria.
What did the House of Lords determine in the Brikibon LTD v Stahag case?
The House of Lords ruled that in the case of instantaneous modes of communication like telex, acceptance is effective only upon receipt, not upon sending.
Exclusion or Exemption Clause is…
a contractual term that attempts to limit or exclude a party’s liability to the other.
What’s the premise of the Tilden v Clendenning case
The dude signed a contract with a car rental company (Tilden) and signed an agreement to have insurance in case of damages. He crashed but wasn’t covered because of an obscurely small exemption clause stating that he wasn’t covered if he had even a flake of liqs in his system. He’d been boozin like a thug when he crashed. The case was unique because the exemption clause was so figgin small and also the employees knew that Clendenning wasn’t entirely aware of the clause.
What was the determination by the court in the Tilden v Clendenning case?
“If the party seeking to enforce the document knew or had reason to know of the other’s mistake the document should not be enforced.” Tilden was aware that Clendenning had not been informed of the exclusion clause.
What is the premise of the Rudder v Microsoft Case?
Rudder (a law student) got Microsoft and accepted to all the terms when he installed. When Rudder realized that there was a Negative Option Billing Scheme (charges more than expected) he sued in a class action.
He attempted to argue that the portion of the contract that outlined the pricing increase was too small or difficult to read.
It overall was an L for Rudder because you can’t just claim some portions of a contract and not others
What is an affidavit?
Sworn statements before trial
What is a motion?
Proceeding – by documentary evidence, prior to trial
How is Rudder v MS different than Tilden v Clendenning?
Tilden v Clendenning case involved a situation where the company knew that Clendenning would be unaware of the exemption clause and made sure that it remained aware.
In the Rudder v MS case, there was no intent by MS to hide the clause or ensure that the user didn’t see it. The judge ruled in favor. You can’t just ignore certain aspects of a contract because you didn’t know. It is assumed that you can decipher portions of a contract. Furthermore, it would undermine e-commerce if they ruled in favor of Rudder.
Concurrent liability means…
Some things can be a tort as well as a crime
What is the premise of Donoghue v Stevensons case?
It’s a case that is foundational in understanding duty of care.
When shawty was chugging back some pop at a restaurant, it was only after consuming it that she realized there was a dead snail in that drank! She got sick and sued.
Donoghue v Stevensons case what was the decision?
Basically, they had to prove that the actions of the restaurant had a foreseeable possibility of causing harm or causal proximity.
Because the bottles were opaque, there was no position for the restaurant to ever check the bottles meaning they were negligent to the possibility of contamination.
What is the general premise of the Palsgraph v Long Island Railway case?
Two Railway employees rushed to help a man board a moving train He was carrying a “package” appeared to be a rolled up newspaper. As the man was helped onto the train – he dropped his package It was fireworks, and exploded when it fell The plaintiff was standing 30 feet away (10 metres) The explosion caused a weigh scale to fall over, striking the plaintiff.
What was the decision in the Palsgraph v Long Island Railway case?
In this case, the act was to save the package guy from harm Even if conduct was a wrong, plaintiff cannot sue for a wrong done to the package guy. Since harm was not “foreseeable”, def owed no duty to plaintiff.
Why were the injuries suffered by the plaintiff kind of irrelevant in the Palsgraph v Long Island Railway case?
Because in the law of unintentional tort Negligence is what is first examined before going down the list to then determine the scope of harm. If no negligence, harm doesn’t matter.
What is the general premise of BOLTON & OTHERS v. STONE?
Buddy smoked a cricket ball over a seven foot fence and hits the plaintiff who was 100 yards away.
What is the issue at hand with the BOLTON & OTHERS v. STONE case?
Is the question to avoid conduct with potential, however slight, to injure or To avoid conduct only if injury to others is likely or probable, on a reasonable person standard?
What is the Four Factor Test for Standard of Care?
1: Likelihood of injury
2. Likely severity of injury
3. Cost of avoiding injury
4. Social utility of the conduct that could cause the injury
What is the general premise of the Hedley Burne v Heller & Partners case?
It was a case that was foundational for incorporating negligent misrepresentation into the picture of tort law.
Burne called heller to ask if the person they will be working with is in good financial standing and heller said yes.
Burne did business with the client and unfortunately, client can’t pay. Burne sues for negligent misrepresentation.
What was the outcome of the Hedley Burne v Heller & Partners case?
Burne lost because the bank made a disclaimer, but it set the precedent for negligent misrepresentation cases.
What is the general premise of the Jones v Tsige case?
Tsige gained access to Jones financial information 174 times in 2 years Tsige was trying to discern if her common law partner was actually paying support to Jones as he had claimed Jones discovered the unauthorized access to her banking information and sued Tsige for invasion of privacy.
What is significant about the Jones v Tsige case?
There was a new problem of informational privacy due to technology.
It influenced definitions towards privacy.
What is the general premise of the Hill V Church of Scientology Case?
Hill helped get a search warrant of Scientology. Scientology tried to claim that these documents were protected eventually leading them to be sealed. K Twohig wanted some of the docs from that and got the court to release some documents but the big mistake was not notifying Scientology. They went nuts because they thought she had gone through the sealed documents.
The president of Scientology handed around their motion against Hill to the press.
Hill sued for libel. Hill succeeded because they made it out to seem that Hill mislead judges. Scientology appealed by arguing that defamation was an unfair restriction on free speech. Hill eventually got $1.4 million for damages
What is the general premise of the Vander Zalm v Times Publishers case?
In the Vander Zalm v Times Publishers case, the general premise revolves around defamation and freedom of the press. The case involves William Vander Zalm, a Canadian politician, who sued Times Publishers, the publisher of a newspaper, for publishing allegedly defamatory statements about him. Vander Zalm claimed that the newspaper articles damaged his reputation and sought damages for defamation.
What was the central question in the Vander Zalm v Times Publishers case?
The central question before the court was whether the statements made in the newspaper articles were defamatory and whether Times Publishers could be held liable for publishing them. The case raised important issues about the balance between freedom of speech and the protection of individual reputation.
What was eventually determined in the Vander Zalm v Times Publishers case?
fair comment. People wouldn’t change their minds about him with the cartoon, and the cartoon was not meant to be seen literally.
Summary Judgment refers to judgment…
without a trial
What is the premise of the Damiano v Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., and Bob Dylan case?
Damiano claims Bob Dylan stole his lyrics and music. There was a summary judgement.
Plaintiff claims 14 of his lyrics were “cherry-picked” by Dylan to use in his work.
What must the plaintiff prove in a copyright case?
ownership of copyright
copying of protectable expression
copying is an improper expropriation of plaintiff’s work
What was the outcome/significance of the Damiano v Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., and Bob Dylan case?
Ruling in plaintiff’s favor would stifle creativity – antithetical to the reason behind the law – to promote creativity
Authors would avoid writing for fear of infringement
Plaintiff failed to prove sufficient originality - words are clichés, don’t meet minimum threshold for originality
Would also fail to prove lyrics were “quantitatively and qualitatively” important to the whole of the plaintiff’s works
These were snippets, unrelated and out of context.
Why was the Damiano v Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., and Bob Dylan case dismissed?
Intrinsic test of substantial similarity (lay person’s reaction as to whether songs are substantially similar in total concept and feel) resulted in them not sounding the same
What is the premise of the FANTASY, INC. v JOHN C. FOGERTY case?
The premise of the Fantasy, Inc. v. John C. Fogerty case revolves around copyright infringement and the issue of whether John Fogerty, a musician and former member of the band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), had unlawfully copied his own earlier work in his solo song “The Old Man Down the Road.”
What is the premise of the A&M Records, Geffen Records; Interscope Records; Sony Music Entertainment; MCA Records; Atlantic Recording Group; Island Records; Motown Records; Capitol Records V Napster case?
The case revolves around copyright infringement and the legality of peer-to-peer file-sharing services in distributing copyrighted music.
The 4 Fair use factors:
- Purpose and character of the use
- Nature of the work (artistic or not)
- Amount of portion used
- Effect of use on the marketplace
What is the general premise of the Bridgeport Music Inc et al v Dimension Films, No Limit Films Case?
The song “100 miles and running” included a sample from “get off your ass and jam”. which sparked a copyrite suitby Bridgeport Music.
The central question before the court was whether the unauthorized sampling of a small portion of a copyrighted song constituted copyright infringement. The case raised important legal issues regarding the use of samples in music and the extent to which copyright protection applies to such samples.
What is significant about the Bridgeport Music Inc et al v Dimension Films, No Limit Films Case?
Ultimately, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, holding that even a two-second sample could be considered copyright infringement if it was recognizable and used without permission. This decision had significant implications for the music industry and sampling practices, leading to increased scrutiny and legal challenges for artists and producers who use samples in their work.
What is the premise with the Voltage Pictures LLC v John Doe & Jane Doe case?
Voltage pictures claims people are illegally downloading their movie and they bring a motion to compel the internet service providers ‘Techsavvy Solutions Inc.’ to release the names of 2000 of its customers.
What is a Norwich order?
A rare pre-trial remedy that allows the information of wrongdoers to be obtained before a claim is actually issued
What is significant about the Voltage Pictures LLC v John Doe & Jane Doe case?
It is a copywrite troll case. They were using copyright not as a means to uphold the core tenants of copyright (protecting intellectual property, and encouraging creativity) but as a weapon
Name 2 copyright troll cases
Voltage Pictures LLC v John Doe & Jane Doe
Media C.A.T. Ltd. (Media CAT)
What is a copyright troll?
Plaintiffs who file multitudes of lawsuits solely to extort quick settlements
What was the Media Cat case about?
It was a copyright troll case where Media Cat (after obtaining several Norwich orders) sent out a letter of claim to tens of thousands of people that they’ve infringed copyright and needed to pay 495 pounds in compensation.
Almost all paid except 27 who took it to court
Why was Media Cat in the wrong?
They overstated the merits of the case, didn’t break down the costs, and asserted an untested basis for infringement
Explain the independent right of publicity
In copyright, a person’s image, likeness, and voice style could be quite profitable and therefore become an intellectual property that should be protected by copyright.
What is the premise of the Midler v Ford Motor Co. case
Ford wanted Midler to sing in a commercial, but she said no, they got someone to sound like her for the commercial. Midler sued and won 400k.
What is the premise of the Tom Waits v Frito Lay case?
Waits was approached by Frito Lay - refused to do any commercials Waits never did commercials, looked down on those who do He told Frito Lay he would sue if they tried anything Frito Lay hired imitator - who did a Waits impersonation in his night club act Frito Lay hired a songwriter to write a song like one of Wait’s songs Waits sued
Indictment is for _____ serious crimes
Most
Summary conviction is for ____ serious crimes
less
What are the two elements of a crime?
Actus and mens reus
Could you be charged if you had drugs on you and you didn’t know?
No, for there to be a criminal charge, men’s reus needs to be proven, an aspect of men’s reus is knowledge. If a person has no knowledge of having drugs they cannot be charged.
Criminal code section 163.1
CP meaning:
a) Film or video (electronic or mechanical)
- that shows a person who is or is depicted as being under the age of eighteen years and is engaged in or is depicted as engaged in explicit sexual activity
- The dominant characteristic of which is the depiction, for a sexual purpose, of a sexual organ or the anal region of a person under the age of eighteen years.
Describe the R v Weir case
This was the case where the guy got the email that was CP, tried to have it fixed by his ISP, and then was caught and charged with CP.
This opened up new debate as how to classify emails, and if they’re different than real mail.
Describe the U.S. V Thomas case.
Thomas bouts porno mags, scanned them, and tried to sell them online cross state.
Charged with 3 counts of shipping obscene videos
What is significant about the U.S. V Thomas case.
Opened questions to the disribution of stuff online, how is inline stuff classified when it is distributed.
What is the R v. Jarvis case?
The teacher with the pen case
Opened up new definitions for reasonable expectation to privacy when it came to cameras in public settings
What does constitutional law outline?
how much power the state can exercise
What is judicial activism?
It is a means for the legal system to challenge the government.
Criticism of the court system
What is significant about the R v. Oakes case?
They had to prove they didn’t traffic drugs, even though they were caught for possession. The issue is that this violated their right to be presumed innocent.
What is the Oaks test?
It’s a way to justify limiting a right on a charter based on the following principles:
- What is the government’s objective
- Is the law’s impact to that objective
- Is the law being persued connected to the objective right at hand?
- does it impair the right as minimally as possible?
- does the negative outweigh the benifit
Describe the R v. KEEGSTRA case
Accused was a high school teacher in Alberta, taught his students about holocaust denial, anti-Semitic materials, jews were not to be trusted, untruthful, world conspiracy etc.,
Did the oaks test pass on the R v. Keegstra case?
- objective test
- they found the objective to be pressing as it was to prevent hatred - proportionality test (failed)
- Not really a rational connection to the law and objective, because the law wouldn’t really be able to suppress talking about that sort of thing
- Criminal law was too severe in this case making the minimal taking of rights too high
What is R v Butler case about?
Selling pornographic materials which had to go through a degradation test
What is the ultimate effect of R v Butler
The proliferation of graphic sexual content in Canada
What is the difference between civil and common law systems?
The civil law system is based on principles that is set out in codes.
The common law system bases the system on previous cases, and challenges or creates new precedent cases depending on cases brought forth.
How do judges approach cases in common law versus civil law systems?
In a civil law system, judges are bound by the principles and civil code. This means judges interpret cases, and then apply the appropriate principles from the code into the case.
In a common law system, are bound by precedent cases, and much effort is in place to match cases based on their facts to preceding cases.
What is the doctrine of strict construction?
The words themselves and nothing else are to be considered when interpreting a statute
What is the doctrine of paramountcy?
Where the laws of two levels of government conflict, federal law prevails
What is of statutory interpretation
Statutory interpretation is a process that requires the exercise of judgment in balancing the ordinary meaning of words, the context of the entire statute and purpose of the statute
What are the two main sources of law?
Statutory enactments and cases adjudicated by judges in courts of law
To stand by decisions and not to disturb settled matters
Stare decisis
What are the rules to statutory interpretation?
- The “mischief rule
- The “literal” rule
- The “golden” rule
