The Future of Canada's Water - UBC Press

LAW
Law and Citizenship
Edited by the Law Commission of Canada
LAW AND SOCIETY
Courts and Federalism
Judicial Doctrine in the United States, Australia,
and Canada
Gerald Baier
2006, 232 pages, 6 x 9”
0-7748-1299-0 / 978-0-7748-1299-3
hc $85.00
2006, 224 pages, 6 x 9”
0-7748-1235-4 / 978-0-7748-1235-1
hc $85.00
LAW AND SOCIETY SERIES
The Law Commission of
Canada is an independent
federal law reform agency
that advises Parliament
on how to improve and
modernize Canada’s laws.
» Also available in the
Legal Dimensions Series,
edited by the Law
Commission of Canada
Law and Risk
What Is a Crime?
– See page 50
Long confined to the study of nationality,
citizenship was not always considered a
major concern of social scientists. In recent
decades, however, the concept of citizenship
has generated significant interest and
intellectual debate in a variety of academic
contexts.
Law and Citizenship provides a framework
for analyzing citizenship by paying attention
to the borders and boundaries of citizenship
regimes. These borders and boundaries are
shifting because of immigration and refugee
flows, changing movement of persons within
economic communities and areas of free
trade, and the rise of nationalist movements
within multinational states. All of these shifts
raise fundamental issues: How are traditional
notions of citizenship erecting borders against
those who are excluded? What are the impacts
of changing notions of state, borders, and
participation on our concepts of citizenship?
Within territorial borders, to what extent are
citizens able to participate, given that the
principles of accountability, transparency, and
representativeness remain ideals?
Law and Citizenship will appeal to scholars
and students in law and politics as well as to
anyone interested in the idea of citizenship in
contemporary society.
LEGAL DIMENSIONS SERIES
Gerald Baier is a professor
in the Department of
Political Science at the
University of British
Columbia.
“In this innovative exploration
of Anglo-American federalism,
the arc of the metaphysical
pendulum embraces legal
theory, judicial reasoning, and
political calculation. An original
work that draws upon law and
politics, Baier’s study offers
fresh perspective on a familiar
topic: the division of powers.
The author demonstrates that
in Canadian legal debate an
intellectual life exists beyond the
Charter.”
Courts and Federalism examines recent
developments in the judicial review of
federalism in the United States, Australia,
and Canada. Gerald Baier argues that the
judicial review of Canadian federalism is
under-investigated by political scientists.
New institutionalist literature in political
science suggests that courts matter as sites
of governmental conflict and that they rely
on processes of reasoning and decision
making that can be distinguished from the
political. Baier proposes that the idea of
judicial doctrine is necessary for a better
understanding of judicial reasoning, especially
about federalism. To bolster this assertion,
he presents detailed surveys of recent judicial
doctrine in the US, Australia, and Canada. The
evidence demonstrates two things: first, that
specific, traceable doctrines are commonly
used to settle division-of-power disputes, and
second, that the use of doctrine in judicial
reasoning makes a positive contribution to the
operation of a federal system.
Courts and Federalism will appeal to readers
interested in the comparative study of law and
government as well as the interaction of law
and federalism in contemporary society.
– David E. Smith, FRSC,
Professor Emeritus, Political
Studies, University of
Saskatchewan
36
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