Midterm Flashcards
chapter 1-5
Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford
When the SCC was asked to see the legitimacy of a Canadian criminal laws that prohibit solicitations for sex. Held: criminalizing prostitution violated s. 7 of the charter
government was given one year to fix the weaknesses in their legislation.
Safe Streets and Communities Act
March 2012. It is a legislation focused on a change to existing criminal law
1) Introducing mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment for child exploitation and for the production/distribution of illegal drugs
2) enshrining victim participation in the process of releasing offenders
3) eliminating the possibility of pardons for certain offenders
Our individual perceptions of ______ and ______ define our relationship as citizens to the state
justice and injustice
8 main theoretical perspectives on the law
1) positivist
2) natural lawyers
3) legal realists
4) Marxists
5) critical legalists
6) feminists
7) anarchists
8) libertarians
Positivism
the theory that laws are to be understood as SOCIAL RULES, valid because they are enacted by “the sovereign” or derive logically from existing decisions, AND that questioning of the morality of a law should not limit the operation of the law
What would a legal positivist answer to the questions of taxation, assisted suicide, and preferential treatment in employment?
if it is the law, yes. if it is not the law, no.
Positivists argue passionately for a _____ system that protects ____ and ____ institutions and prevents the abuse of ____ power
legal, liberty and democratic, political
For positivists, the process of ____ is seen as more important than the specific _____ of the law
law, content
Positivists draw a firm line between the practice of ___ and the practice of _____
law, politics
what places are the proper place for debate in a positivists view?
House of Commons and legislative assembies of the province
LAW is the outcome of _____ process, NOT a part of it
political
Creating a dichotomy (difference) between the content of law and the content of politics gives increased what?
certainty, stability, and predictability
Positivism is rooted under which 2 things?
1) British doctrine of parliamentary supremacy
2) Social contract
British doctrine of parliamentary supremacy
doctrine explains that parliament is supreme. parliament can make/unmake any law and nobody can override this legislation
Social contract
law that ties individuals to the collective through a binding, democratically constructed agreement
Legal philosopher John Austins view on laws (positivist)
he believed all human laws had to conform to God-given laws
H.L.A Harts view on law (positivist)
viewed law as a secular construction. He DID believe, like John Austin, that law and morality needed to be SEVERED for legal practice and legal analysis but he wasn’t blind to the injustices
Principle of Nulla Poena Sine Lege (positivism)
there shall be no penalty without a valid law. Does not allow for repressive, retroactive law
Does the natural law perspective put a dichotomy or a link between morality and law?
link
Lex iniusta non est lex (natural law perspective)
an unjust law is no law at all
Before the 20th century, what was the natural law theory based on?
Christian theology/Judeo-Christian values
What is legal theorist Roger Cotterrell’s perspective on law? (natural law)
believes natural law is dead. first eclipsed by positivism then later by realist and Marxism. He believes its hard to determine WHAT is moral because everyone has a different idea of morality.
How would the natural law perspective answer to the questions of taxation, assisted suicide, and preferential treatment in employment?
whatever is more morally right is what side they will be on.
Natural law perspective
any law that is good is moral, and any moral law is good