In Canadian law, the protections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms apply with relatively little force in areas of economic regulation. The following passage from R. v. Wholesale Travel Group Inc., [1991] 3 SCR 154 is representative of the courts’ concern that giving too expansive a scope to the Charter might be socially damaging: Regulatory legislation […] Read more

I was in Dublin last week for the launch of the Law Reform Commission of Ireland’s recent Consultation Paper on Non-Court Adjudicative Bodies (see here). You can view the event here, chaired by Justice Bolger and featuring remarks from me, Frank Clarke and Richard Barrett: Read more

Last month, the Federal Court of Appeal handed down an important judgment in Canada (Attorney General) v. Canadian Civil Liberties Association, 2026 FCA 6. The Court of Appeal unanimously agreed with the Federal Court that the federal government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act during the so-called ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests in Ottawa in 2022 was unlawful. Common […] Read more

Readers may recall my post marking Conor’s untimely passing (see here). The London School of Economics held a wonderful event last week commemorating Conor’s life and scholarship. I spoke on the ‘Public Law’ panel with Baroness Hale of Richmond and Professor Roger Masterman. Here are my speaking notes (to be published in due course by […] Read more