The Role of the Judiciary in the Work of Madame Justice Wilson

My topic is the role of the judiciary in the work of Madame Justice Wilson, but I am going to use a particular focus. I started with the famous lecture Do Women Judges Really Make a Difference delivered at Osgoode Hall Law School7 and it helped me think of a question. What is it that women judges might make a difference to? One answer is the law, another is judging itself. These themes were very clear in Madame Justice Wilson\u27s lecture. Another answer, however, is the concept of woman. When women judges make a difference to law, part of what they might make a difference to is law\u27s contributions to the cultural meaning of womanhood. (The law does not of course do the job of making us women ( and those of us who are men, men) alone - she is very much aware of the relatively minor role of law.8 There are other influences, including religion and education. A focus on what it means to be a woman does not take us away from the topic of the role of the judiciary. Madame Justice Wilson has made it crystal clear that the qualities of being womanly and judicial are not mutually exclusive. We may have indeed moved from an age when it seemed inconceivable that one could be a judge and a woman too to a time when more attention is being paid, via judicial education programmes, to the question that many conscientious judges struggle with - how to combine maleness and judging. In addressing Madame Justice Wilson\u27s role as a judge in contributing to the legal construction of woman, I\u27d like to start by asking whether the word woman changes the meaning of the word judge

Criminal Law and Procedure: Who Needs Tenure?

Professor Boyle analyses criminal law scholarship from a feminist perspective in order to illustrate the invisible polemics of existing research. Generally, the feminist point of view is marginalized, while legal writing that is male in language and coverage abounds. If the protection of tenure was given to authors (such as feminists) who voice new or unpopular ideas, rather than to those whose positions are guaranteed by main stream writing, broader policy options would emerge and criminal law theory in general would benefit

The Hidden Gender of Law

Two legal academics who set out to produce a book of materials with such a title could weave many components into it. They could explore feminist methodology, and show how much feminist legal scholarship has in common with feminist scholarship generally. They could illustrate the influence of feminist academic work on actual legal decisions and legislation. They could discuss feminist scholarship and legal education, including the dramatic developments over the last twenty years. Questions about fundamental values - equality, liberty, security, fairness - could be addressed. Materials could be included from the field of law often called Women and the Law, that is, those substantive areas of particular interest to women, such as the laws relating to equal pay for work of equal value, sexual assault, custody, welfare, human rights, the Intemational Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, domestic workers, and the impact of incitement to racial hatred on women

Sexual Assault in Abusive Relationships: Common Sense About Sexual History

In this paper, the author, using a hypothetical fact scenario as a focus, discusses competing interpretations of the new rape shield provisions in ss. 276-276.4 of the Criminal Code. In spite of identifying appealing arguments based on the importance of examining context in the resolution of legal issues, she argues that s. 276(1) should be read as barring all evidence of sexual history between the complainant and the accused, including pattern evidence , unless it relates to something other than consent or credibility

The Anti-Discrimination Norm in Human Rights and Charter Law: Nixon V. Vancouver Rape Relief

This paper analyzes the issue of whether the human rights concept of discrimination should be consistent with the constitutional meaning. It includes a case study of whether it is discrimination for a women’s group to exclude male to female transsexual persons. The author concludes that given the purposes of human rights law, the meaning of discrimination should be sophisticated enough to address such complex cases where there are equality claims on both sides

Sexual Divisions in Law

I remember Katherine O\u27Donovan vividly. She was a young law lecturer at Queen\u27s University Belfast when I was a first-year student there seventeen years ago. Law, on the whole, does not provide a large number of women to stimulate one\u27s aspirations, but Katherine O\u27Donovan would have been outstanding in any context. She was clever and as beautiful as her name. She has written an outstanding book

Newfoundland and Dominion Status

The relationship between Canada and Newfoundland was under stress for a number of different reasons during the eighties. There was a dispute over off-shore mineral rights\u27 as well as concern over French fishing rights.2 For those interested in the relationship, Dr. Gilmore\u27s book, Newfoundland and Dominion3 Status, subtitled The External Affairs Competence and International Law Status of Newfoundland, 1855-1934, therefore provides a useful historical background as well as fascinating information about the constitutional development of Newfoundland. This may be of interest as well to constitutional and international scholars generally as well as to Newfoundland\u27s neighbours in the Maritimes

Married Women - Beyond the Pale of the Law of Rape

The author discusses the law relating to marital rape and contributes to the debate about law reform in this area, with some reference to proposed amendments to The Criminal Code. At the time of writing these were embodied in Bill C-53 which had received its First reading in Parliament on January 12, 1981. The main argument is that law reform in this area should display sensitivity to the special coercive potential of the marital relationship and that any pressure, including the conscious exploitation of external factors, to engage in sexual activity comes within the appropriate sphere of the criminal law