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International Investment Law and Sustainable Development - Friend or Foe?
No full textForeign direct investment (FDI) is widely regarded as a critical mechanism for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), yet the legal framework governing such investment often operates in tension with sustainability imperatives. This conference paper examines the complex relationship between international investment agreements (IIAs) and sustainable development and questions whether IIAs serve as instruments that promote or impede states’ pursuit of sustainability objectives. It argues that the structure and interpretation of IIAs, characterized by broad definitions and expansively worded standards of treatment as well as the use of investor–state dispute settlement (ISDS), have frequently constrained states’ regulatory autonomy, particularly in relation to sustainable development aims. Drawing on treaty practice and arbitral jurisprudence, the paper illustrates how these provisions have elevated investor protection over public welfare concerns and, in doing so, risk undermining the very goals that FDI is purported to advance. The analysis then turns to explicit sustainable developed-related provisions in IIAs − including right-to-regulate clauses, exceptions and carve-outs, investor obligations, and investment facilitation provisions − assessing their potential to reconcile investment protection with sustainable development. It concludes that meaningful alignment requires reconceptualizing IIAs as instruments explicitly designed to advance sustainability objectives rather than just vehicles for investor protection. This is the most promising path for transforming international investment law from a foe into a genuine friend of sustainable development
Libel via Language Models
No full textThis article explains how developers and users of large language models (LMs) may be treated by English and Canadian libel law. LMs could be economically significant, and the liability environment they exist in will affect where they are developed, who accumulates wealth from their development, and who bears the burdens of any negative consequences of their development. Understanding the existing liability environment allows both developers and policy makers to make informed decisions—about which jurisdiction to offer services and what to prioritise, for the former, and about whether the existing law serves desired policy ends, for the latter. LMs also raise challenging legal issues because they undermine common-sense assumptions that are baked into existing legal doctrines. Although the discussion may have broader implications for tort law generally, this article focuses on the doctrine and theory of libel. Legal problems lie lurking in those doctrinal weeds and are helpfully revealed by the contrast between Canadian and English law. Minor jurisprudential differences in decisions from yesteryear may have significant consequences if they are followed when text is generated by LMs rather than by people
Sentencing Vulnerability: Conceptualizing the Incorporation of Personal Characteristics and Experiences at Sentencing
No full textSocial inequalities that lead to criminal conduct are often not considered in sentencing; individuals subject to structural inequities receive the same formal sentence as those convicted of like crimes irrespective of the latter’s social advantage. Individual characteristics may also affect how a sentence will be experienced by an individual. While Characteristics and Experience-Sensitive Sentencing (CESS) already exists in various forms and to various degrees in sentencing theory and praxis, a more cohesive, comprehensive, and principled CESS remains wanting. Building on existing approaches, this article locates CESS as a necessary response to equality-based concerns arising from current mainstream sentencing practice. Thus, it is not merely that CESS could be incorporated in sentencing or that judges have the discretion to consider and perhaps should more often consider personal characteristics and experiences at sentencing. Rather, the alignment of sentencing with overarching Charter values and equality-based ideals requires an intentional, cohesive CESS framework that routinely informs the practice of sentencing
A New Guide to KF Modified: KF Classification Modified For Use In Canadian and Common Law Law Libraries
No full textThe revised and updated edition of the Guide to KF Classification Modified for Use in Canadian Law Libraries written by Janet M. Moss of the Gerard V. La Forest Law Library at the University of New Brunswick in 2004 and published in 2006 as an Occasional Paper by the Canadian Association of Law Libraries/L\u27Association canadienne des bibliothèques de droit. This revision clarifies the use of KF Modified, incorporates the enhancements and improvements that have been applied to the KF Modified classification scheme during the intervening years, and contributes to the consistent use of this classification scheme in law libraries using or considering the use of KF Modified
Refugee Law Lab Consultation Report on Bill C-2
No full textThis Report documents consultations undertaken by the Refugee Law Lab (RLL) with refugee advocacy communities in response to proposed legislation, Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act. The report: a) Provides an overview of Bill C-2, highlighting its impacts on immigration and refugee law b) Outlines critiques of Bill C-2 made by advocacy and human rights organizations c) Describes the RLL, its consultation objectives, and methodologies d) Presents key themes from the RLL\u27s consultations e) Proposes an action plan for the RLL and recommendations for other university-based researchers
Principles of Canadian Income Tax Law, 11th Ed.
No full textPrinciples of Canadian Income Tax Law is an introduction to Canadian income tax law using clear, concise, and non-technical language. As with previous editions, the emphasis is on the principles of income tax law, the policies that influence and underlie the system, basic technical schemes and landmark court decisions. Tax law is portrayed as a rational system that contributes to Canada’s socio-economic fabric.
This new edition is significantly rewritten, including a new introduction chapter, a completely rewritten chapter on the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) and substantially revised chapters on specific anti-avoidance rules (SAARs) related to income shifting and on income earned through intermediaries. It generally follows the structure of the Income Tax Act, starting with section 2 and ending with section 245 (the GAAR).
Most chapters follow a common structure that includes an overview of the legislative scheme in terms of the basic rules, purpose, and rationale and key concepts and principles. Some practical problems are added to many chapters. Key statutory provisions are distilled to their essence and explained in simple language. The focus is on the “what” and the “why” aspects of statutory interpretation as well as the application of the rules to relatable (or “real life”) situations.
This text comes with finding tools that save research time, including a detailed table of contents, an exhaustive table of cases and a comprehensive topical index. -- Publisher description.https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/faculty_books/1437/thumbnail.jp
Critical Conversations in Canadian Public Law
No full textCritical Conversations in Canadian Public Law is a groundbreaking open-access collection of peer-reviewed essays showcasing interdisciplinary thinking on topical public law issues at the forefront of the evolving relationship between state and society. In Canada, this relationship is undergoing a period of significant reinvention, as evidenced, for example, by the movements for reconciliation, decolonization and Indigenization, the calls to recognize and remedy systemic racism in institutions including police forces, and the recent extension of human rights protections to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression. These examples reveal that we are experiencing a moment where claims that challenge the normative foundations of the discipline of public law are being made in real time; claims about citizenship, rights, and access to resources and benefits; claims about what substantive and procedural fairness look like, and for whom; claims about the obligations and limits of the state to proactively address both historical and current injustices; and challenges to the underlying assumptions about the state itself. Critical Conversations in Canadian Public Law highlights the intersections of critical perspectives–including intersectional approaches to decolonial and Indigenous legal theory, Indigenous constitutionalisms, critical race theory, feminisms, queer theory and critical disability theory–and public law topics, broadly defined. This collection bridges the divide between traditional, largely liberal, public law scholarship and critical perspectives by centring critical theories as not only relevant, but imperative, to robust, fully contextualized understandings of contemporary public law challenges.https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/faculty_books/1442/thumbnail.jp
OHLJ Podcast, Episode 3: Professor John Borrows on Legal Teaching and Land-Based Education
No full textAt the 10 year anniversary of Osgoode Hall\u27s Anishinaabe Law Camp, Osgoode Hall Law Journal Production Director Johnathon Cruickshank is joined by Prof. John Borrows in a discussion about legal land-based education