Print

Print


Now available online…

 

University of Toronto Law Journal - Volume 67, Number 1, Winter 2017 

 <http://bit.ly/utlj671> http://bit.ly/utlj671

 

ARTICLES

The Moral Unity Of Public Law

T.R.S. Allan

Instead of a public law fragmented into discrete departments, we should
envisage a unified scheme of constitutional rights and legal standards,
expressing a coherent moral theory of the rule of law. That moral theory
underpins all legitimate legal orders, properly respectful of human dignity;
and common law adjudication is best understood as the working out, according
to context, of the practical implications of the theory. An initial focus on
more local legal tradition ultimately leads to a broader inquiry about the
true demands of human rights and civil liberties, offering the prospect of a
larger vision of democratic constitutionalism. While Jeremy Waldron has
doubted the similarity between legal analysis and moral reasoning –
rejecting an analogy with Rawlsian reflective equilibrium – his view may be
contested. A common law judge who attempts to reason morally in the name of
the whole society, in the manner suggested by Ronald Dworkin’s theory of
integrity, must take account of those legal texts and precedents that
political morality makes pertinent. Legal reasoning is simply moral
reasoning, attentive to historical and political context.
<http://bit.ly/utljaopd16d> http://bit.ly/utljaopd16d

 

De-Ciphering Self-Help

Zoë Sinel

The dominant view of self-help is that it is a remedy exercised by
individuals as an alternative to seeking state-sanctioned aid. In other
words, self-help consists in ‘legally permissible conduct that individuals
undertake absent the compulsion of law and without the assistance of a
government official in efforts to prevent or remedy a legal wrong.’ Indeed,
self-help is often vaunted as an efficient, or at least potentially
efficient, alternative to the slower, costlier, and more cumbersome civil
justice system. In our world of increasingly exorbitant legal costs, in
which few have meaningful access to the civil justice system, remedies that
can be initiated and executed without prohibitive expense merit scholarly
attention. Notwithstanding this potential promise, the legal scholarship on
self-help is meagre, and, moreover, just what behaviour counts as self-help
is left unclear. Self-help, as it is currently understood, risks becoming a
meaningless term, a cipher through which almost any behaviour initiated by
an individual in furtherance of her legal rights can count as self-help.
This article defends a narrower conception of self-help than that
recommended by the dominant view.  … 
 <http://bit.ly/utljaopd16c> http://bit.ly/utljaopd16c

 

The Puzzle Of Intra-Familial Commodification

Ram Rivlin

Trading babies or brides for money is widely regarded as morally wrong and
sometimes even legally prohibited. Yet here is a puzzle: it seems that
parallel exchanges are taking place within the family unit, in the context
of custody or reconciliation agreements, both of which might sometimes
involve the interweaving of parental or spousal relations with financial
exchange. Such cases face much less resentment and criticism, not to mention
legal regulation. What can explain this gap in normative treatment? This is
the ‘puzzle of intra-familial commodification.’ The article introduces the
puzzle, maps it, and evaluates the ways in which it might be resolved.
First, it explores the possibility to revise our judgment regarding either
the permissibility of intra-familial commodification or the wrongfulness of
the extra-familial case. Second, it examines why despite the fundamental
symmetry between the cases a disparate final judgment might nevertheless be
called for. Finally, it explores the option of vindicating the normative
fundamental asymmetry. Thinking through the puzzle, the article offers new
insights on both the centrality of the market-pricing mechanism for the
general problem of commodification and the way familial ties might save
intimacy from the corruption of monetary exchange. 
 <http://bit.ly/utljaopd16b> http://bit.ly/utljaopd16b

 

BOOK REVIEW

False Security: The Radicalization of Canadian Anti-Terrorism by Craig
Forcese and Kent Roach

Robert Diab

 <http://bit.ly/utljaopd16a> http://bit.ly/utljaopd16a

 

REVIEW ESSAY

How to end mass imprisonment: The legal and cultural strategies of Bryan
Stevenson

Lisa Kerr

Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, which is part legal history and part memoir,
arrives at a moment when the tides may be turning in US criminal justice.
Stevenson is a singular catalyst in the emergence of a movement against mass
imprisonment, and the topics he is focused on are central to the prospect of
lasting systemic reform. In his work as litigator, professor, and public
figure, Stevenson has helped to usher in a new common sense that
far-reaching reforms to US criminal justice are both required and imminent.
Stevenson’s work becomes all the more significant when we consider the scope
of change that structural reform requires. He has helped to draw the US
Supreme Court away from a stance of extreme deference to legislative
judgment in non-capital sentencing review – a meaningful shift in the
direction of legal limits on the politics of tough punishment. This review
contextualizes the publication of Just Mercy as a component of Stevenson’s
legal and cultural strategies aimed at consolidating the reform movement
against US mass imprisonment. 
 <http://bit.ly/utlj671a> http://bit.ly/utlj671a

 

 

 

Full text of the University of Toronto Law Journal is available online at
UTLJ Online, Project Muse, JSTOR, HeinOnline, Westlaw, Westlaw-CARSWELL,
LexisNexis and Quicklaw.

 

University of Toronto Law Journal is available online at

Project MUSE -  <http://bit.ly/utljpm> http://bit.ly/utljpm

UTLJ Online -  <http://bit.ly/utlj_online> http://bit.ly/utlj_online

 

 

Join the UTLJ email list!

Sign up for important news relating to University of Toronto Law Journal.
You'll receive emails with peeks inside new issues, Tables of Contents,
Calls for Papers, editorial announcements, special offers and journal news.
You can unsubscribe at any time and we will never publish, rent or sell your
contact details to anyone . Sign up here –  <http://bit.ly/utljalerts>
http://bit.ly/utljalerts

 

UTP Journals Law & Criminology Newsletter 

Sign up for the free monthly UTP Journals Law and Criminology newsletter!
<http://bit.ly/lawnewsletter> http://bit.ly/lawnewsletter

Receive the latest information on newly published research, reviews and
opinions as well as Calls for papers, news items and exclusive discounts.
You can unsubscribe at any time and we will never publish, rent or sell your
contact details to anyone.

 

Full text of the University of Toronto Law Journal is available online at
UTLJ Online, Project Muse, JSTOR, HeinOnline, Westlaw, Westlaw-CARSWELL,
LexisNexis and Quicklaw.

 

For more information about the University of Toronto Law Journal or for
submissions information, contact:

University of Toronto Law Journal

University of Toronto Press, Journals Division

5201 Dufferin Street, Toronto, ON M3H 5T8, Canada

Tel: (416) 667-7810 Fax: (416) 667-7881

Fax Toll Free in North America 1-800-221-9985

Email:  <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask]

 <http://www.utpjournals.com/utlj/utlj.html> www.utpjournals.com/utlj

 <http://www.facebook.com/utpjournals> www.facebook.com/utpjournals 

 <http://www.twitter.com/utpjournals> www.twitter.com/utpjournals

Posted by T Hawkins, UTP Journals