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Friday, December 23, 2016

Welcome to Amanda Campbell, incoming Osgoode Society Adminstrator

We are pleased to announce that our new administrator, replacing the retiring Marilyn Macfarlane, is Amanda Campbell, formerly of the educational publisher Pearson Canada.

The selection committee was very impressed with the number and quality of applications for the administrator position. After a number of meetings and interviews with some stellar candidates, Amanda was our unanimous choice. She will start on January 3rd, working out of the Society's office in Osgoode Hall. Her email address is osgoodesociety@lsuc.on.ca.

Welcome, Amanda! We know we will enjoy working with you.

Osgoode Society Young Lawyers' Evening

The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History invites young members of the profession for an evening of discussion and engagement with legal history. Justice Sharpe, judge of the Court of Appeal for Ontario and President of the Osgoode Society, will speak about the benefits of knowing more about our profession's rich and varied past. 
 
Please join us on January 23, 2017, at Osgoode Hall in the Museum Room from 5:30-7:30. The event is free to attend, and refreshments will be available. Please RSVP to jonathansilver@osgoode.yorku.ca. Space is limited.

Retirement of Marilyn Macfarlane


Marilyn Macfarlane has recently retired as Administrator of the Osgoode Society after more than 30 years of service to the organisation. 
We will mark this occasion with a retirement dinner for Marilyn on Tuesday January 31st at Osgoode Hall. Reception at 6, followed by dinner at 7. Members, authors, directors, former directors and any and all friends of the Osgoode Society and Marilyn are very welcome. Please save the date. In the New Year more details, and information on how to sign up,  will be posted on the Society’s website.

Thanks for all your help to the publishers, editors, authors and members of the Society over the years, Marilyn. You will be missed!

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

CFP: Canada’s Legal Past: Future Directions in Canadian Legal History


Le francais suit

Canada’s Legal Past: Future Directions in Canadian Legal History

From July 16 to 18, 2017, the Faculties of Law and Arts at the University of Calgary will jointly host  “Canada’s Legal Past: Future Directions in Canadian Legal History,” and we are seeking expressions of interest and abstracts. Canadian legal history has come into its own in the last thirty-five years, as scholars have moved to examine law within the context of cultural, philosophical and larger historical frames. This conference will provide an opportunity to take stock of the last generation of work on Canada’s legal history and to assess what comes next, in terms of topics, methodologies, sources, and theories. The majority of the papers will be original papers on recent work, but we are also hoping to attract historiographical scholarship that will identify future topics and approaches. The anniversary of the country will inspire reflections on the longer story of northern North America. We are hoping participants will locate the historical project that was and is Canada within the larger context of empires – indigenous and European – and the world and to consider questions of law’s relationship to the tension between local and faraway influences; to gender, race and indigeneity; to state-building, trade and commerce; and to the circulation of ideas, legal, cultural, religious, economic and otherwise. This conference will also provide an opportunity for discussions of the teaching of legal history in different disciplinary contexts within the academy, as it is is hoped that scholars from a range of disciplinary homes and backgrounds – working in French and English – will take part.

Abstracts should be submitted by February 1 to Lyndsay Campbell (lcampbe@ucalgary.ca), but early expressions of interest would be most welcome. Please do pass this call for papers along.  


* * *

Passé juridique du Canada : les orientations futures de l’histoire juridique canadienne


Du 16 au 18 juillet 2017, les facultés de droit et des arts de l’Université de Calgary seront l’hôte du colloque intitulé « Passé juridique du Canada : les orientations futures de l’histoire juridique canadienne », et nous invitons les intéressé-e-s à soumettre des manifestations d’intérêt et des résumés. L’histoire juridique canadienne s’est fait une place depuis les trente-cinq dernières années, avec des chercheur-euse-s qui ont envisagé le droit dans les contextes culturel, philosophique et historique plus vastes. Ce colloque sera l’occasion de faire le bilan de la dernière génération de travaux sur l’histoire juridique du Canada et d’évaluer les sujets, les méthodologies, les sources et les théories à venir. La majorité des communications seront des communications originales portant sur des travaux récents, mais nous souhaitons également attirer des travaux historiographiques qui permettront d’identifier les sujets et les approches futures. L’anniversaire du pays va inspirer des réflexions sur l’ensemble de l’histoire du nord de l’Amérique du Nord. Nous espérons que les participant-e-s aborderont le projet historique qui a été et qui est le Canada, dans le contexte plus large des empires (peuples autochtones et européens) et du monde, et qu'ils/elles examineront la relation du droit quant à la tension entre les influences locales et lointaines; au genre, à la race et à l'indigénéité; à la création d'états et du commerce; et à la circulation d’idées juridiques, culturelles, religieuses, économiques et autres. Ce colloque sera également l’occasion de discuter de l’enseignement de l’histoire du droit dans différents contextes disciplinaires au sein de l’académie, puisque nous espérons que des universitaires provenant de différents milieux disciplinaires et travaillant en français et en anglais y prendront part.

Les résumés doivent être soumis au plus tard le 1er février, à Lyndsay Campbell (lcampbe@ucalgary.ca), mais des manifestations d’intérêt envoyées plus tôt sont certainement les bienvenues. Veuillez s’il vous plaît partager cet appel à communications.  

* * *

Conference organizers / Les organisateurs et organisatrices du colloque :
  • Blake Brown, History and Atlantic Canada Studies, St. Mary’s University (blake.brown@smu.ca)
  • Lyndsay Campbell, Law and History, University of Calgary (lcampbe@ucalgary.ca)
  • Ted McCoy, Law & Society and Sociology, University of Calgary (ejmccoy@ucalgary.ca)
  • Nicole O’Byrne, Law, University of New Brunswick (nobyrne@unb.ca)
  • Adrian Smith, Law and Legal Studies, Institute of Political Economy, and Institute of African Studies, Carleton University (adrian.smith@carleton.ca)

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Forthcoming from UTP: Wetstein and Ostberg, Value Change in the SCC

Forthcoming from UTP (Spring 2017)

VALUE CHANGE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA

By Matthew E. Wetstein and C.L. Ostberg
Value Change in the Supreme Court of CanadaValue Change in the Supreme Court of Canada is a groundbreaking analysis of the degree to which Supreme Court decisions reflect the changing values of society over the past four decades. Focusing on three key areas of law: environmental disputes, free speech, and discrimination cases, Wetstein and Ostberg provide a revealing analysis of the language used by Supreme Court justices in landmark rulings in order to document the way that value changes are transmitted into the legal and political landscape.
Bolstered by a comprehensive and nuanced blend of research methods, Value Change in the Supreme Court of Canada offers a sweeping analysis of pre- and post-Charter influences, one that will be of significant interest to political scientists, lawyers, journalists, and anyone interested in the increasingly powerful role of the Supreme Court.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Revised and updated schedule/Songheees Conference: First Nations, Land and James Douglas


(Via Hamar Foster, on behalf of the Conference Steering Committee) 

The Songhees Nation and the University of Victoria Faculty of Law and History Department invite you to a symposium entitled:


First Nations, Land and James Douglas:

Indigenous and Treaty Rights in the Colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia,
1849-1864,

February 24-26th, 2017

Songhees Wellness Centre in Victoria, BC.

The symposium will start with tours of Songhees traditional territory by land and sea on Friday the 24th followed by a mix of academic and community presentations.

Please visit the symposium website for more information and to register (registration deadline February 10th):

   

UPDATED: Osgoode Society Legal History Workshop 2017 winter term

*Please note the room changes and addition of April 5th session*

OSGOODE SOCIETY LEGAL HISTORY WORKSHOP – WINTER TERM 2017

All sessions in Flavelle 219 (formerly Faculty Lounge) except those of February 8 and 22nd.
All  sessions start at 6.30 p.m

Wednesday January 11 – Dennis Molinaro, Trent University: “The Official Secret.”

Wednesday January 25 – Anna Jarvis, York University: “Colonial criminal justice and the Mi'kmaq: the case of Tom Williams, Prince Edward Island, 1839”.

Wednesday February 8 – Bill Wylie, Independent Scholar: The “Majestic Equality” of the Law: Diverging Views on the Reform of the Civil Law and Courts in Upper Canada, 1841-1857.”
(Jackman P120)****new

Wednesday, February 22 - David Chan Smith, Wilfrid Laurier University: "Social expectations, Self-interest, and the Public Good: Rethinking the Early Common Law Corporation."
(Jackman 125) 

Wednesday March 8 – Ashley Rubin, University to Toronto: “America’s Proto-Prisons Revisited: The Innovation of Proto-Prisons and the Diffusion of the Walnut Street Model, 1785-1822."

Wednesday March 22 – Chandra Murdoch, University of Toronto: TBA

Wednesday, April 12  *new date*– Sally Hadden, Western Michigan University: "The Last British Justice in Revolutionary America: Charleston's Board of Police, 1780-1782."

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Ouellet, "En déficit d'autonomie. La commission d’indemnisation des accidents du travail du Nouveau-Brunswick (1918-1932)"

In the current issue of Labour/Le Travail, Nelson Ouellet of the Université de Moncton has an article:

Abstract (English version follows)

Abstract


Empruntant la voie tracée par l'administration quotidienne de la Commission des accidents du travail au Nouveau-Brunswick, le présent texte examine les tensions engendrées par l'introduction d'un régime d'indemnisation sans égard à la faute durant sa phase d'implantation (1918-1932). L'augmentation des accidents du travail au Nouveau-Brunswick au cours des années 1920 ayant incité les commissaires à réviser les taux d'évaluation sectorielle pour maintenir en équilibre la caisse des accidents, des employeurs qui contestaient les hausses les contraignirent à recourir aux tribunaux pour protéger le pouvoir discrétionnaire que lui conférait la loi. Dans la seconde moitié de la décennie, lorsque les employeurs et les membres élus du nouveau gouvernement conservateur se rapprochèrent sous l'effet d'une économie tournant au ralenti, la Commission entra dans une phase critique de son histoire. Les déficits budgétaires étant absorbés par un État qui la priva d'une autonomie restreignant des projets de relance, la Commission se consacra à une gestion sélective de la décroissance, laquelle accentua l'état de dépendance des travailleurs accidentés et des familles endeuillées. À l'aube de la réforme législative introduite au printemps 1932, le déficit d'autonomie de la Commission ne réussit pas à capter l'attention des contemporains préoccupés par les risques du travail et de la dépendance matérielle. Comme les protagonistes élaborant l'« infrastructure de la prévention » pour contrer les crises, notre contribution cherche à pallier une connaissance qui confère à l'indemnisation une place trop modeste comme sujet d'étude historique et comme objet de réflexion théorique sur le risque et le désastre.

Following the path traced by the daily administration of a workers’ compensation system, this article examines the tensions it produced during the early years of implementation in New Brunswick (1918-1932). The increase of industrial accidents in New Brunswick during the 1920s led commissioners to revise assessment scales in order to balance the accident fund and employers who were decrying the increases forced them to use the courts to protect their discretionary powers provided by law. In the second half of the decade, when the slow-moving economy of New Brunswick brought employers closer to the newly elected Conservative government, the Commission entered a critical stage of its history. When the government took advantage of the Commission’s budgetary deficits to take away an administrative freedom that constrained the promises of a second industrial revolution, the Commission downsized selectively, which increased the state of dependency of injured workers and mourning families. At the dawn of the legislative reform introduced in the fall of 1932, the Commission’s lack of discretionary powers did not catch the attention of contemporaries who were more worried by the risks brought on by work and material dependency. Like the protagonists who put together an infrastructure of prevention to counter the crisis, our contribution seeks to correct an understanding that provides too little space to compensation as a subject of historical study and as an object of theoretical reflection on risk and disaster.

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Kary, "Judgments of Peace Montreal’s Jewish Arbitration Courts, 1914-1976" in AJLH


Joseph Kary has published "Judgments of Peace Montreal’s Jewish Arbitration Courts, 1914-1976" in the American Journal of Legal History.

Here's the abstract:

At a time when crucifixes were placed on the walls of Quebec courtrooms, Jewish community organizations in Montreal created their own arbitral tribunals, giving the immigrant generations a culturally-relevant alternative to both religious adjudication and the civil law courts. Large portions of the records of one of these courts, the Jewish Community Council's Mishpat HaShalom, survive. They allow a rare look at the workings of an arbitration court, a type of institution whose private nature too often makes it opaque to legal scholars.
The Jewish arbitration courts of North America have often been wrongly seen simply as vestiges of Old World customs. This article places the Montreal courts in the context of similar institutions across North America, particularly in New York City, to show the links between their practice and procedure and the progressive philosophy of court reform of the early twentieth century. In doing so, this article breaks new ground in explaining the rivalry between the two major New York Jewish arbitral tribunals and why there was a split between them.
By way of contrast with the New York courts, whose caseload consisted primarily of family matters, a large proportion of the cases before Montreal’s Mishpat HaShalom were corporate-commercial disputes. In these and other kinds of cases the court employed flexible remedies that would not become accepted in civil law until the 21st century, suggesting, among other things, that scholars of corporate law need to revise their understanding of the history of the corporate oppression remedy and that scholars of the evolution of legal doctrine need to incorporate the workings of such private arbitral tribunals into their narrative.

Friday, December 2, 2016

Legal History Workshop schedule for winter 2017 term



OSGOODE SOCIETY LEGAL HISTORY WORKSHOP – WINTER TERM 2017

All sessions in Jackman Building, Room 230. All  sessions start at 6.30 p.m

Wednesday January 11 – Dennis Molinaro, Trent University: “The Official Secret.”

Wednesday January 25 – Anna Jarvis, York University: “Colonial criminal justice and the Mi'kmaq: the case of Tom Williams, Prince Edward Island, 1839”.

Wednesday February 8 – Bill Wylie, Independent Scholar: The “Majestic Equality” of the Law: Diverging Views on the Reform of the Civil Law and Courts in Upper Canada, 1841-1857.”

Wednesday, February 22 - David Chan Smith, Wilfrid Laurier University: "Social expectations, Self-interest, and the Public Good: Rethinking the Early Common Law Corporation."

Wednesday March 8 – Ashley Rubin, University to Toronto: “America’s Proto-Prisons Revisited: The Innovation of Proto-Prisons and the Diffusion of the Walnut Street Model, 1785-1822."

Wednesday March 22 – Chandra Murdoch, University of Toronto: TBA

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Call for Papers – Canadian Law and Society’s Mid-Winter Meeting & Symposium



Call for Papers – Canadian Law and Society’s Mid-Winter Meeting & Symposium
This is a general call for participation in the CLSA’s Annual Mid-Winter Meeting & Symposium, which will take place at the Faculty of Law, University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, NB January 20-21, 2017. The Mid-Winter Meeting is a relatively small, informal gathering and a great way to connect with CLSA members from across the country and to get involved in the organization. The theme for this year is Piluwitahasuwawsuwakon (the Wolastoqey word for Changing Minds, Living the Truth) as part of our continuing engagement and response to the challenges put forward in the Truth and Reconciliation Committee’s Calls to Actions. The keynote address, “Sāsipihkeȳihtamowin: Restorying the Indigenous Feminine in an Age of Reconciliation,” will be delivered by Dr. Margaret Kress-White (Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre, UNB). David Perley, the Director of the Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre, and Imelda Perley, UNB’s Elder-in-Residence, will host a traditional welcome cerem! ony to which all are invited to participate. Members are strongly encouraged to organize round table discussions or panels around the main theme as well as other issues within socio-legal scholarship such as law and religion, crime and punishment, socio-legal methods, legal history or any other research area that is of interest. Individual submissions for paper presentations are also welcome.
Please send a brief abstract or description of your roundtable, panel or individual paper (up to 250 words) to Nicole O’Byrne (nobyrne.ca@gmail.com) no later than 20 December 2016. The CLSA board meeting will take place late afternoon Saturday January 21st . Please note that all presenters must be members of the CLSA at the time of the conference. There is no charge for registration but please let us know if you plan to attend. We hope to see you in Fredericton in January! Dr. Lyndsay Campbell, President Dr. Nicole O’Byrne, Vice-President (Conferences) Artwork courtesy of Christi Belcourt.

Appel à communications - Symposium et Réunion d'hiver de l'Association canadienne Droit et Société
Nous lançons un appel général à ceux et celles qui souhaitent participer au Symposium et à la Réunion d'hiver de l'ACDS qui auront lieu à la Faculté de Droit, de la University of New Brunswick à Fredericton, N.-B., le 20-21 janvier 2017. La réunion d'hiver est un petit rassemblement informel qui offre l'occasion idéale de réseauter avec les membres de l'ACDS de partout au pays et de s'impliquer dans l'organisation. Dans le cadre de notre engagement continu et de notre réponse aux enjeux mis de l'avant par le Comité de vérité et réconciliation, le thème de cette année est Piluwitahasuwawsuwakon (le mot en Wolastoqey qui veut dire « Changer les mentalités, Vivre la vérité »). Le discours thème, « Sāsipihkēyihtamowi : Restorying the Indigenous Feminine in an Age of Reconciliation », sera présenté par M me Margaret Kress (Centre Mi’kmaq-Wolastoqey, UNB). David Perley, directeur du Centre Mi'kmaq-Wolastoqey, et Imelda Perley, l'aînée-résiden! te de l'UNB, seront les hôtes d'une cérémonie de bienvenue traditionnelle à laquelle tous sont invités à participer. Les membres sont fortement encouragé-e-s à organiser des tables rondes ou des groupes de discussion mixtes autour du thème principal, ainsi que d'autres questions en lien avec l'approche sociojuridique telles que le droit et la religion, les crimes et châtiments, les méthodes sociojuridiques, l'histoire du droit ou tout autre domaine de recherche qui est d'intérêt. Les présentations de communications individuelles sont également les bienvenues.
Veuillez faire parvenir un bref résumé ou une description de votre table ronde, groupe de discussion ou communications individuelles (jusqu'à 250 mots) à Nicole O'Byrne (nobyrne.ca@gmail.com) au plus tard le 20 décembre 2016. La réunion du Conseil de l'ACDS aura lieu en fin d'après-midi samedi 21 janvier. Veuillez noter que tous les présentateurs doivent être membres de l'ACDS au moment de la réunion. Il n'y a pas de frais d'inscription, mais veuillez nous aviser si vous souhaitez participer. Nous espérons vous voir à Fredericton en janvier ! Lyndsay Campbell, présidente Nicole O'Byrne, vice-présidente (conférences) Œuvre artistique gracieusement offerte par Christi Belcourt

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Nominations sought for new ASLH prize for book on legal history (non-US)

via H-Net

The American Society for Legal History announces the Peter Gonville Stein Book Award, to be presented annually for the best book in legal history written in English. This award is designed to recognize and encourage the further growth of fine work in legal history that focuses on all non-US regions, as well as global and international history. To be eligible, a book must sit outside of the field of US legal history and be published during the previous two calendar years. Announced at the annual meeting of the ASLH, this honor includes a citation on the contributions of the work to the broader field of legal history. A book may only be considered for the Stein Award, the Reid Award, or the Cromwell Book Prize. It may not be nominated for more than one of these three prizes.
The Stein Award is named in memory of Peter Gonville Stein, BA, LLB (Cantab); PhD (Aberdeen); QC; FBA; Honorary Fellow, ASLH, and eminent scholar of Roman law at the University of Cambridge, and made possible by a generous contribution from an anonymous donor.
For the 2017 prize, the Stein Award Committee will accept nominations of any book that bears a copyright date of 2015 or 2016 as it appears on the printed version of the book.
Nominations for the Stein Award should be submitted by March 15, 2017. Please send an e-mail to steinaward@aslh.net and include: (1) a curriculum vitae of the author; and (2) the name, mailing address, e-mail address, and phone number of the contact person at the press who will provide the committee with two copies of the book. This person will be contacted shortly after the deadline. (If a title is short-listed, six further copies will be requested from the publisher.)
Please contact the committee chair, Mitra Sharafi, with any questions: mitra.sharafi@wisc.edu.

Friday, November 25, 2016

CFP: CSECS/ NEASECS Joint Conference, Toronto, 18-22 October 2017

(h/t Carol Percy)

CSECS – Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies / NEASECS – Northeast American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
Joint Annual Conference, Toronto, Ontario, 18-22 October 2017

From Cosmopolitans to Cosmopolitanisms

Proposals for panels due by 1 February 2017
Proposals for papers due by 1 March 2017

Across the long eighteenth century virtually every form of visual and textual representation and almost every area of intellectual enquiry was transformed by a changing sense of the world and its inhabitants. That change came in response to the practical experience of intercultural communication and exchange arising from both increased commerce and increasingly global conflict. Narratives of travel and contact, images depicting cultural difference both small and large, fictions of worlds new, old and exotic flooded the cultural marketplace. Theorists of statecraft and governance both then and now recognize this period as a crucial moment where conceptions of nationhood, empire, citizenship, diplomacy and globality were first broached. Kant’s desire for a cosmopolitical future was partly spurred by a century of almost continual war.

For their joint annual meeting, the Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies and the Northeast American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies invite panel and paper submissions that address this topic in all of its complexity. The meeting will be held at the Chelsea Hotel in Toronto, Ontario, 18-22 October 2017 and is co-hosted by colleagues from the University of Toronto and local institutions including Humber College, Ryerson University and York University.

We invite proposals that investigate the cosmopolitan in a range of fields, including but not limited to literature, art and architecture, book history, education, geography, history, history of science, indigenous studies, law, linguistics, music, philosophy and political science. Among the many issues raised under this topic the organizing committee is interested in panels and proposals that address the definition of cosmopolitanism itself both in the eighteenth century and within our current critical moment, the practice of intercultural exchange that leads to the assertion or cancellation of cosmopolitan identity, the circulation of goods and peoples that impinge on emergent and disappearing understandings of the “world” and its citizens, the theorization of the desire for identities beyond that of nation, tribe or clan, the resistances to such “worlding” desires, and the specific representation of cultural contact, cultural difference and exchange. This may well be a conference populated by travellers, pirates, painters, diplomats, merchants, jurists, castaways and philosophers, some no doubt enthusiastic to the promises of cosmopolitanism, some attuned to its cost, and some skeptical about its claims.

In keeping with CSECS and NEASECS tradition, panels and papers devoted to elements of the long eighteenth century not directly related to the conference theme are also welcome. Papers in either French or English are welcome. Individual proposals should include a 150-word abstract of the paper and its title, and a 150-word biographical statement including your name, academic status, institutional affiliation, membership (CSECS/NEASECS), and e-mail address. Panel proposals should include the above, as well as a brief description of the panel itself.

Please send panel proposals by 1 February 2017; paper proposals by 1 March 2017 to email CSECS2017@utoronto.ca.

APPEL À COMMUNICATIONS
SCEDHS – Societé canadienne d’étude du dix-huitième siècle / NEASECS – Northeast American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies
Congrès annuel conjoint, Toronto, Ontario, 18-22 octobre 2017
Des cosmopolites aux cosmopolitismes 
Date d’échéance des propositions de session : 1er février 2017
Date d’échéance des propositions individuelles : 1er mars 2017

Tout au long du 18e siècle, de nombreux champs du savoir sont redéfinis par de nouvelles perceptions du monde. Ces changements résultent du nombre croissant d’échanges interculturels qui se tissent à la fois dans la sphère du commerce et des affaires militaires. Les récits de voyage avec leurs représentations des différences culturelles, ainsi que les fictions décrivant d’anciens et de nouveaux mondes, envahissent plus que jamais les étals des libraires. Au 18e siècle déjà, et encore davantage aujourd’hui, on s’accorde pour considérer cette période comme un moment charnière où s’intensifie la réflexion politique sur les notions de nation, d’empire, de citoyenneté, de diplomatie et d’universalisme. Par ailleurs, ce sont aussi les guerres presque continuelles du siècle qui incitent Kant à réfléchir à un avenir cosmopolite.

En vue de leur réunion annuelle, la Société canadienne d’étude du dix-huitième siècle (SCEDHS) et la Société de l’Amérique du Nord-Est pour l’étude du dix-huitième siècle (NEASECS) sollicitent des propositions de séance et de communication sur le thème du cosmopolitisme. Co-organisé par des collègues de l’Université de Toronto, de l’Université York, de l’Université Ryerson ainsi que du Humber College, le congrès aura lieu à l’hôtel Chelsea, à Toronto, du 18 au 22 octobre 2017.

Nous sollicitons des propositions qui portent sur la notion de cosmopolitisme provenant de divers champs de savoir : histoire, littérature, philosophie, science politique, études autochtones, histoire de l’art, histoire du livre, histoire des sciences, pédagogie et éducation, géographie, droit, linguistique et musique. Le comité organisateur portera une attention particulière aux propositions de communication et de séance dédiées à la définition du cosmopolitisme, que ce soit au 18e siècle ou à notre époque marquée par la globalisation, à la circulation des biens et des personnes, à la formation d’identités cosmopolites, aux concepts de « monde » et de « citoyen », à la résistance aux idéaux cosmopolites, sans oublier la représentation concrète des différences culturelles et des échanges interculturels.

En accord avec les traditions respectives des deux Sociétés hôtes, les communications et les séances consacrées à d’autres sujets sont également les bienvenues. Les propositions peuvent être rédigées en français ou en anglais.

Les propositions individuelles doivent contenir le titre de la communication, un résumé de 150 mots, de même qu’une brève notice biographique indiquant votre nom, votre adresse électronique, votre statut académique, ainsi que votre affiliation. Les propositions de session doivent contenir ces éléments pour chacun des participants, en plus d’une courte description du panel.

Date d’échéance des propositions de session : 1er février 2017.
Date d’échéance des propositions individuelles: 1er mars 2017.
Veuillez SVP faire parvenir vos propositions à CSECS2017@utoronto.ca


Friday, November 18, 2016

Successful LLM thesis defense by Suzie Chiodo on Ontario Class Proceedings Act

(h/t Philip Girard)

On November 16, Suzie Chiodo successfully defended her LLM thesis at Osgoode Hall Law School, entitled "Class Roots:  The Genesis of the Ontario Class Proceedings Act, 1966-1993."  Philip Girard was the thesis supervisor, Justice Paul Perell was second reader, Jamie Benidickson of the University of Ottawa was the external examiner, and Janet Walker of Osgoode chaired the examination committee. The abstract reads in part as follows: 


"Nearly 25 years since its passage, the Ontario Class Proceedings Act has become one of the most frequently debated procedural mechanisms of its kind. The CPA came about following the release of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC) Report in 1990. None of the current narratives explain how this Report pulled together so many divergent interests where previous attempts had failed. My thesis answers this question with reference to the historical sources and the legal, political and social changes that took place throughout this period."
This thesis also highlights the unique nature of the AGAC consultation process, which saw the negotiation of a consensus between the parties and the subsequent drafting of legislation. Although this process was effective, however, it led to compromises and a lack of democratic oversight that continue to affect the CPA and its goals of access to justice to this day."
Through a combination of archival sleuthing and interviewing, Suzie reconstructed the unusual process by which the Ontario Class Proceedings Act saw the light of day.  A unique consultation process involving major (but not all) stakeholders led to a consensus and ultimately the Act, but at the cost of some significant compromises and a lack of democratic oversight that continue to affect the CPA to this day. The examining committee unanimously rated the thesis as "outstanding."  
After a BA at Oxford and an early career in journalism, Suzie emigrated to Canada and did a law degree at Western, where she worked with Rande Kostal. She then joined the well-known class actions firm Rochon Genova LLP, where her work obviously inspired her choice of thesis topic. 


Congratulations Suzie!  

Thursday, November 17, 2016

LLM scholarship for thesis on BC legal history

(Via Doug Harris)

UBC Allard School of Law History Project LLM Scholarship
The Peter A. Allard School of Law is offering a one-year scholarship of $15,000 to support an LLM student during the 2017-18 academic year to write a thesis on some aspect of British Columbia’s legal history, with preference for a student working on the history of legal education or the legal profession and who intends to use the materials available through the Allard School of Law History Project.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

*Updated*: Canadian Content at the ASLH conference, Oct. 28 and 29 in Toronto

Apologies to Eric Reiter, whose listing I missed the first time I posted this.

The American Society for Legal History is meeting in Toronto at the Fairmont Royal York, for its annual conference Friday October 27 and Saturday October 28!

The programme is available on the ASLH website, along with other useful information.

The whole programme looks great, and there will be a number of panelists speaking on Canadian legal history subjects. Sadly, a number of them will be on at the same time, but it was ever thus.

I combed through the programme for Canadian content so you won't have to. (Note there are other Canadians chairing, commenting and presenting--I just include those on Canadian subjects.)

Look for:


Friday. Session I. 8:15-10:00AM 
"Indian Character" and Indigenous Characters in Canadian Criminal Law (Algonquin room)
Chair: Constance Backhouse, University of Ottawa
Commentator: Shelley Gavigan, Osgoode Hall Law School,
Chandra Murdoch, University of Toronto, "Applications of the Indian Act:         Character Evaluation and Political Power on the St. Regis Reserve, 1887-1910"
Jacqueline Briggs, University of Toronto, "Brokers for Legal Services: Indian Agents and the Department of Indian Affairs Legal Aid Program, 1880 to 1970"
Carolyn Strange, Australian National University, "Sexual Psychopathy, the   Indian Mind, and the Death Penalty in Mid-20th Century Canada: An Unexplored Nexus"

Friday Session II, 10:30-12:00PM
Aboriginal People and Legal Intermediaries in Colonial Courts (Algonquin room)
Chair & Commentator: John McLaren, University of Victoria,
Shelley Gavigan, Osgoode Hall Law School, "A Criminal Court to do its Bidding? Criminal Law and Canadian Indian Policy in the North-West, 1876-1905"

Women, "Aliens," and Citizenship: Married Women's Nationality Laws and Repatriation Campaigns in Europe and North America, 1920s-1950s (Alberta room)
Chair: Philip Girard, York University
Commentator: Audrey Macklin, University of Toronto
Franca Iacovetta, University of Toronto, "'In the case of a woman' or 'The      headache': Married Women's Nationality and Canada's Citizenship Act at             Home and Abroad 1946-50"

The Americanization of the Canadian Law School (Quebec Room)
Chair: Jim Phillips, University of Toronto,
Angela Fernandez, University of Toronto, "Casebooks Canonizing the Common   Law
Eric Adams, Faculty of Law, University of Alberta, "Border Crossings and the     Birth of Modern Legal Education"
David Sandomierski, University of Toronto, "Fuller and the Canadians"

Saturday. Session V. 8:30-10:15AM
Extradition and the Formation of Transnational Criminal Law Regimes
in the 19th Century (1789-1914)
Bradley Miller, University of British Columbia/Vancouver, "The Low Law of   Nations: Police Abductions in Northern North America, 1819-1914"

Saturday, Session VIII 4:15-6:00 pm.
The Laws of Repatriation: Problems and Questions in Libel and Privacy Law in North American History
Eric Reiter, Defamation and Family Honor in the Quebec Courts: Collective Interests within a Liberal-Individualist System

Note that: 

The deadline to Pre-Register for the 2016 ASLH Annual Meeting was October 3, 2016. If you missed the deadline, you will be able to register on-site. Registration will open at 2:00pm on October 27, 2016 in the Ballroom Lobby of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.
The on-site meeting registration fee will be substantially discounted for ASLH members.  If you are not yet a member or have let your membership lapse, please join or renew your ASLH membership before registering for the annual meeting.  You can join or renew your ASLH membership here.

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Osgoode Society administrator sought: Nov. 15 deadline for applications

The Osgoode Society invites applications for the post of Administrator, with duties to commence in January, 2017.

The Society is a charitable organization, and its purposes are to promote public interest in the history of law, the legal profession and the judiciary and to stimulate research and publication on these subjects.  It is the one of the most successful legal historical publishers in the common law world.
The administrator reports directly to the Editor-in-Chief and serves as secretary to the Board of Directors.
It is anticipated that on average the Administrator will be required to work between 3.5 and 4 days a week.  The duties of the Administrator will include managing the day to day operations of the Society which are located in Osgoode Hall on Queen Street.
The Administrator will be responsible for all significant tasks and events undertaken by the Society during the year, including duties in connection with the Society’s publishing and Oral History Programs.  The Administrator will work with the Editor-in-Chief and the Oral History Co-ordinator, whose offices are not located in Osgoode Hall.  The Administrator must therefore be able to work successfully without direct supervision.
The successful candidate will be fully conversant with all aspects of basic word processing and other computer databases and programs. A post-secondary degree is a minimum requirement but there is no particular prior work experience required.
This is a great opportunity for a person looking to achieve a greater work-life balance while still completing challenging work related to law, history and publishing.
For further information about the Society consult this website.
If you are interested in exploring this opportunity please provide a cover letter and a copy of your resume to Professor Jim Phillips, Faculty of Law & Department of History, University of Toronto, 78 Queen’s Park, Toronto, M5S 2C5, or to j.phillips@utoronto.ca. Applications will be considered starting November 15th.

Friday, October 21, 2016

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Canadian Legal History at the ASLH conference


Next week, the American Society for Legal History is meeting in Toronto at the Fairmont Royal York, for its annual conference!

The programme is available on the ASLH website, along with other useful information.

The whole programme looks great, and there will be a number of panelists speaking on Canadian legal history subjects. Sadly, a number of them will be on at the same time, but it was ever thus.

I combed through the programme for Canadian content so you won't have to:

Look for:


Friday. Session I. 8:15-10:00AM 
"Indian Character" and Indigenous Characters in Canadian Criminal Law (Algonquin room)
Chair: Constance Backhouse, University of Ottawa
Commentator: Shelley Gavigan, Osgoode Hall Law School,
Panelists:
Chandra Murdoch, University of Toronto, "Applications of the Indian Act: Character Evaluation and Political Power on the St. Regis Reserve, 1887-1910"
Jacqueline Briggs, University of Toronto, "Brokers for Legal Services: Indian Agents and the Department of Indian Affairs Legal Aid Program, 1880 to 1970"
Carolyn Strange, Australian National University, "Sexual Psychopathy, the Indian Mind, and the Death Penalty in Mid-20th Century Canada: An Unexplored Nexus"

Friday Session II, 10:30-12:00PM
Aboriginal People and Legal Intermediaries in Colonial Courts (Algonquin room)
Chair & Commentator: John McLaren, University of Victoria,
Canadian Panelist:
Shelley Gavigan, Osgoode Hall Law School, "A Criminal Court to do its Bidding? Criminal Law and Canadian Indian Policy in the North-West, 1876-1905"

Women, "Aliens," and Citizenship: Married Women's Nationality Laws and Repatriation Campaigns in Europe and North America, 1920s-1950s (Alberta room)
Chair: Philip Girard, York University
Commentator: Audrey Macklin, University of Toronto
Canadian panelist:
Franca Iacovetta, University of Toronto, "'In the case of a woman' or 'The headache': Married Women's Nationality and Canada's Citizenship Act at Home and Abroad 1946-50"

The Americanization of the Canadian Law School (Quebec Room)
Chair: Jim Phillips, University of Toronto,
Canadian Panelists:
        Angela Fernandez, University of Toronto, "Casebooks Canonizing the Common Law
Eric Adams, Faculty of Law, University of Alberta, "Border Crossings and the Birth of Modern Legal Education"
David Sandomierski, University of Toronto, "Fuller and the Canadians"

Saturday. Session V. 8:30-10:15AM
Extradition and the Formation of Transnational Criminal Law Regimes
in the 19th Century (1789-1914)
Canadian panelist:
Bradley Miller, University of British Columbia/Vancouver, "The Low Law of Nations: Police Abductions in Northern North America, 1819-1914"

Note that: 

The deadline to Pre-Register for the 2016 ASLH Annual Meeting was October 3, 2016. If you missed the deadline, you will be able to register on-site. Registration will open at 2:00pm on October 27, 2016 in the Ballroom Lobby of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.
The on-site meeting registration fee will be substantially discounted for ASLH members.  If you are not yet a member or have let your membership lapse, please join or renew your ASLH membership before registering for the annual meeting.  You can join or renew your ASLH membership here.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

New from the Osgoode Society and UTP: Miller, Borderline Crimes: Fugitive Criminals and the Challenge of the Border, 1819-1914

The last of the Osgoode Society's three publications for 2016 is now in print.

Borderline Crime: Fugitive Criminals and the Challenge of the Border, 1819-1914 by Bradley Miller of the University of British Columbia, published by the Society in conjunction with the U of T Press, is one of two "member's books" for this year. (The other is Lori Chambers' A History of Adoption Law in Ontario, 1921-2015, about which I posted a few weeks ago.)


Here's what the Osgoode Society has to say about Borderline Crimes:
borderline-crime
This is the first comprehensive history of cross-border Canadian-American interactions in relation to fugitive criminals, escaped slaves, and refugees. Miller examines the complexity of those interactions, which involved formal legal regimes governed by treaties as well as informal and extra-legal phenomena such as abductions and ground-level ‘customary’ co-operation between low-level officials. All of this is set against the background of a developing international law and evolving ideas about extradition in other parts of the British empire.

Monday, October 17, 2016

New from Osgoode Society and UTP: Muir, Law, Debt and Merchant Power: The Civil Courts of Eighteenth Century Halifax

New from the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History and the U of T Press.

James Muir of the University of Alberta has just published Law Debt and Merchant Power: The Civil Courts of Eighteenth Century Halifax.

Here's what the Osgoode Society website has to say:


law-debtThis is a path-breaking study of the every day work of civil law and civil courts. It examines the type of litigation pursued (mostly debt), how the courts worked, and how the economy operated in a society with very little cash and in which credit was the lifeblood of commerce. Muir employs both quantitative and qualitative analyses of all extant case files and explains how eighteenth-century court procedure worked. He situates his study against the society and economy of Halifax, analyzing who sued who and why and how the legal system fit into patterns of economic relations and activity.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Conference announcement: Legal History and Empires: Perspectives from the Colonized

A save-the-date from Shaunnagh Dorsett:



Following on (finally!) from the Legal Histories of the British Empire conference in Singapore  in 2012, we are pleased to announce Legal History and Empires: Perspectives from the Colonized, jointly sponsored by  the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Humanities and Education, University of the West Indies,  Cave Hill Campus, Barbados, 11-13 July 2018. A website and CFP will be announced in the new year. Its a way off, but as we know July is always busy, so here is a heads up! Save the Date!
For preliminary inquires please contact Shaunnagh Dorsett (shaunnagh.dorsett@uts.edu.au) or Asya Ostroukh (asya.ostroukh@cavehill.uwi.edu)

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

CLSA fall bulletin seeks your socio-legal publication and research news


CLSA bulletin editor David DesBaillets is seeking submissions for the announcements section of the Fall Bulletin (#57) If you have any recent or forthcoming publications in the area of socio-legal research please send him the details. Also welcome are awards of research grants/prizes, conference announcements/calls for papers, job postings, and similar.  The Bulletin is a great way to inform other socio-legal scholars of your recent research.
David is also seeking submissions for the CLSA in the News section, so if your research has recently been featured in the media, let him know and where possible send a link so that he can include it in the Bulletin.
Please email your announcements to d.desbaillets@gmail.com with the subject line "Bulletin."

(Nota bene: Please also send any specifically legal history news to me for inclusion in this blog: marystokes@osgoode.yorku.ca)

Monday, October 3, 2016

Symposium on The Constitution of Canada: History, Evolution, Influence and Reform (May 24, 2017 in Italy)

(Via H-Net)

Symposium on The Constitution of Canada: History, Evolution, Influence and Reform

24 May 2017
On the Occasion of the 150th Anniversary of Confederation.  
In memory of Alessandro Pizzorusso
Scuola Sant’Anna
Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33
Pisa, Italy
 
Convened by:
Giuseppe Martinico
Richard Albert
Antonia Baraggia
Cristina Fasone
 
This Symposium will convene a group of scholars to reflect on the history and evolution of the Constitution of Canada, on its written and unwritten dimensions, on its influence abroad, and on prospects for its reform.
Submissions are invited from scholars of all levels—from senior scholars to doctoral students—on one or more of the following subjects. We invite participants to take any methodological approach they wish, including comparative, doctrinal, empirical, historical and/or theoretical perspectives.
  • The History and Evolution of the Constitution of Canada
  • The Influence Abroad of the Constitution of Canada
  • Canada’s “Invisible” Constitution
  • Reforming Canada’s Constitution: Perspectives from Abroad
The Symposium will be highlighted by a keynote address by Susanna Mancini, Full Professor of Comparative Public Law at the University of Bologna, and will feature Paolo Carrozza (Scuola Sant’Anna, Pisa), Giacomo Delledonne (Université Saint-Louis, Bruxelles), Anna Gamper (University of Innsbruck), and Patricia Popelier (University of Antwerp).
How to Participate:  Interested scholars are asked to submit an abstract no longer than 500 words by 15 December 2016 tostalsworkshop2016@gmail.com. A Symposium Selection Committee will choose abstracts and notify all scholars no later than 20 January 2017. Full drafts of papers will be due by email to  stalsworkshop2016@gmail.com no later than 20 April 2016. Papers should be no longer than 10,000 words (footnotes included).
The Convenors intend to seek publication of the papers presented at the conference either an edited volume or a special issue of a law journal, subject to successful blind peer-review. Papers submitted but not accepted may be considered for publication in the STALS Research Paper Series:  www.stals.sssup.it.
Costs:  There is no cost to participate in the Symposium. Participants are responsible for securing their own funding for travel, lodging and other incidental expenses. Scuola Sant’Anna will sponsor lunch and dinner on the day of the Symposium, as well as a welcome reception for participants on the evening prior to the Symposium.
Questions:  Please direct inquiries in connection with this Symposium to Giuseppe Martinico by email at  martinico@sssup.it.
Symposium Selection Committee
Richard Albert (Boston College Law School)
Antonia Baraggia (University of Milan)
Cristina Fasone (Luiss Guido Carli University, Rome)
Giuseppe Martinico (Scuola Sant’Anna, Pisa and Centre for Studies on Federalism, Turin) (Chair)
About the Scuola Sant’Anna , Pisa and the STALS (Sant’Anna Legal Studies) Project
Scuola Sant’Anna (http://www.santannapisa.it/en) is a public university institute provided with special autonomy. The main aim of the Scuola Sant’Anna is to experiment with innovative paths in education and research, so as to meet the modernization and innovation expectations of contemporary society. In line with this goal the Scuola Sant’Anna responds swiftly to each and every societal challenge by adopting a multidisciplinary and forward-looking approach.
Comparative and European Union law are also relevant matters in the research activities of ScuolaSant’Anna, especially in the framework of STALS (Sant’Anna Legal Studies:  http://www.stals.sssup.it), a project made possible thanks to the financial support offered by ScuolaSant’Anna, issued within the framework of the School’s internationalization policy, where both young and experienced scholars can share a space and propose papers that are classified by topics (European politics and policies; subnational constitutional law; constitutional developments; judicial dialogue and transnational law; European and international economic law; global legal pluralism), in order to foster discussion and research at the supranational level, promoting cooperation with other researchers abroad and organizing seminars and conferences with the participation of judges and members of EU institutions and international organizations.
Sponsors
We thank the following sponsors for supporting this Symposium:
  1. Scuola Universitaria Superiore Sant'Anna
  2. The Sant'Anna Legal Studies Project
  3. The Embassy of Canada
  4. The International Association of Constitutional Law
  5. Associazione di Diritto pubblico comparato ed europeo

Contact Info: 
Giuseppe Martinico, Scuola Sant'Anna, Pisa and Centre for Studies on Federalism, Turin
Contact Email: