What is Left of Pelech?

This paper takes Justice Wilson’s majority judgments in the Pelech v. Pelech trilogy (1987) as point of departure for an inquiry into the life over time of family law judgments and family law scholarship. It argues that it is worth attending to the ways in which the experience of critically reading those judgments today is different than it was at the time of their release. A contemporary rereading of the trilogy and of the sophisticated feminist literature critical of it shows the contingency of scholarly interventions. Subsequent developments in political economy, notably the intensified downloading of the state’s responsibility for the costs of social reproduction, have altered the context from which we read Justice Wilson’s views on the state’s duty to support former spouses. The privatization of the process for family dispute resolution contrasts with the privatization of the substantive duty to provide support denounced by scholars in the 1990s. Moreover, recent criticisms of the post-divorce family unit and efforts to make space for alternative family configurations lend a different resonance to Justice Wilson’s comments on the importance of valuing people’s intentions in terminating family relationships

Relational Contract and Other Models of Marriage

This article proposes relational contract as a model for analyzing marriage under Canadian law. In contrast, in Bracklow v. Bracklow, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized two competing models of marriage and three models of spousal support. The difficult policy issues in the law of spousal support relate not to a tension between different models but instead go to compensation, including reliance and expectations. This article uses relational contract to critique Bracklow, considering the challenges in defining models. The Court\u27s basic social obligation model and its non-compensatory support are unjustifiably broad, and its compensatory support is too narrow. In assessing the extent to which competing models give couples flexibility in customizing their relationships, the article discerns in Bracklow the emergence of new notions of public order in the sphere of marriage and a sense of not only procedural, but also substantive, justice

Gimme Shelter

Highlighting the family home\u27s significance as shelter this paper challenges the prevailing view of the demands of the equality guarantee in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms regarding unmarried cohabitants. In Nova Scotia (Attorney General) v. Walsh, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected the claim that it was discriminatory to restrict rules dividing matrimonial property to married couples. By contrast, on many views it is discriminatory to exclude cohabitants from a support obligation. Scholars and judges assume that Walsh upholds all statutory rules regarding married spouses and their property, including measures protecting the family home as shelter But Walsh is best read narrowly leaving open the status of the latter rules. Viewed in the light of the support/property dichotomy, the regime of the family home is akin to support. For family law and policy, it is analytically useful to unbundle conjugal unions\u27 effects. Scholars\u27 reading of Walsh may connect to procedural features of Charter litigation and attitudes towards judicial power inconsistent with the common-law tradition

Rhapsodie sur la forme et le fond de l’harmonisation juridique

L’auteur soutient dans le texte qui suit que les aspects par lesquels l’harmonisation du droit fédéral avec les droits communs provinciaux, qui a été entreprise par le gouvernement fédéral, diffère de son éponyme, l’harmonie musicale, soulèvent de cruciales controverses relatives aux théories du fédéralisme canadien et à la philosophie du droit. Tandis que le projet d’harmonisation juridique, tel qu’il a été conçu par ses architectes, peut être caractérisé comme une approche par le haut (top-down), approche conforme avec le positivisme juridique, l’harmonie musicale est mieux décrite comme une approche par le bas (bottom-up), approche plus conforme au pluralisme juridique. Si elle atteignait ses objectifs, l’initiative d’harmonisation juridique fédérale aurait comme effet d’enchâsser une vision selon laquelle le droit civil appartient exclusivement au gouvernement québécois. Or, malgré les ambitions de ses architectes, l’initiative d’harmonisation, dans sa mise en oeuvre, se révèle indisciplinée, soulevant de nombreux débats et interrogations. D’ailleurs, loin d’être un signe négatif, les débats et les désaccords font eux-mêmes partie de la pratique de l’harmonisation.The ways in which the harmonization of federal and provincial law undertaken by the federal government differs from its namesake, musical harmony, illuminate crucial controversies regarding theories of Canadian federalism and legal philosophy. While the legal harmonization project, as conceived by its designers, can be characterized as top-down, and consistent with legal positivism, musical harmony is better viewed as bottom-up, an approach more consistent with legal pluralism. Were it to attain its objectives, the legal harmonization project would entrench a vision of the civil law as belonging exclusively to the government of Quebec. Despite its architects’ ambitions, however, the harmonization project, in its implementation, has shown itself to be unruly, generating many debates and questions. Far from being negative, these debates and disagreements are themselves part of the practice of harmonization

Relational Contract and Other Models of Marriage

This article proposes relational contract as a model for analyzing marriage under Canadian law. In contrast, in Bracklow v. Bracklow, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized two competing models of marriage and three models of spousal support. The difficult policy issues in the law of spousal support relate not to a tension between different models but instead go to compensation, including reliance and expectations. This article uses relational contract to critique Bracklow, considering the challenges in defining models. The Court\u27s basic social obligation model and its non-compensatory support are unjustifiably broad, and its compensatory support is too narrow. In assessing the extent to which competing models give couples flexibility in customizing their relationships, the article discerns in Bracklow the emergence of new notions of public order in the sphere of marriage and a sense of not only procedural, but also substantive, justice

Identity, Law, and the Right to a Dream?

This paper engages critically with the new orthodoxy holding that individuals have a right to know their genetic origins and that such knowledge is crucial to realizing their identities. It examines two case studies: the Pratten litigation under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms regarding anonymous donor conception and scholarship approving a reform to Quebec\u27s adoption law. It addresses the supposed identity gap between those who are adopted or donor-conceived and those who are neither Arguments for law reform exaggerate that gap, opposing the incomplete, insecure identity of the adopted or donorconceived to the ostensibly complete, secure identity of those raised by their putatively genetic parents. A result is to overstate what is distinct and harmful about being adopted or donor-conceived. The paper also identifies a mistaken perception of law\u27s role in fashioning identity and recognizing family ties, including what law does for those who are not adopted or donor-conceived and what it might do for those who are. Some claims for law reform in the service of identity expect more from law than it can or should provide

Taking Stock: Securities Markets and the Division of Powers

Recent developments in Canada\u27s securities markets highlight their national character and call for a fresh consideration of the question of federal securities regulation. Developments in the constitutional case law have changed the legal context, such that the trade and commerce and the peace, order and good government powers under the Constitution Act, 1867 would likely support federal securities legislation. The securities question, important in its own right, also serves as a case study for how the Supreme Court of Canada conducts division of powers analysis for matters that have undergone substantive change. The authors contend that competence over a provincial matter should be reassigned to Parliament only when that matter has changed so substantially that untenable legal fictions are required to keep it \u27Within the province, no benefits associated with the values of federalism arise from continuing provincial jurisdiction, and uniform interprovincial cooperation is required for effective regulation. The existing level of interprovincial cooperation regarding securities shows the need for national regulation and raises concerns about influence based on market and not democratic power: by virtue of its market dominance, Ontario exerts a significant extra-territorial influence over other provinces\u27 securities regulators. While a reorganization of Canada\u27s securities regulation would clearly require negotiation between the two levels of government, the increasing strength of the legal case for federal regulation, in terms of changes in the securities markets and in the constitutional case law, would influence such negotiations

Sustainable Ozone and Aerosol Measurements from a 6U CubeSat: The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) IV Pathfinder

Stratospheric ozone represents only a tiny fraction of the atmosphere, yet is vitally important for life on Earth. Measurements from satellites provided data on the initial decline of ozone in the late 1970s and early 1980s that supported the adoption of the Montreal Protocol, and current observations hint at a potential recovery. Adequate determination of that recovery requires continuous and, in the case of multiple instruments, overlapping data records. However, most current satellite systems are well beyond their expected lifetimes, and are large and expensive to build and launch. A new measurement paradigm is needed to enable cost-effective, sustainable measurements of atmospheric ozone into the 2040s when ozone is expected to recover. The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment IV (SAGE IV) is an example of an innovative mission that can sustain a crucial science measurement at a fraction of the costs of traditional, larger missions. SAGE IV is a solar occultation imager capable of measuring ozone, aerosol, and other trace gas species with the same quality as previous SAGE instruments (including SAGE III currently on International Space Station (ISS)), yet takes advantage of recent technological advancements to reduce its overall size, fitting inside a 6U CubeSat bus. This paper describes the SAGE IV instrument

Serum and cerebrospinal fluid biomarker profiles in acute SARS-CoV-2-associated neurological syndromes.

Preliminary pathological and biomarker data suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection can damage the nervous system. To understand what, where and how damage occurs, we collected serum and CSF from patients with COVID-19 and characterized neurological syndromes involving the PNS and CNS (n = 34). We measured biomarkers of neuronal damage and neuroinflammation, and compared these with non-neurological control groups, which included patients with (n = 94) and without (n = 24) COVID-19. We detected increased concentrations of neurofilament light, a dynamic biomarker of neuronal damage, in the CSF of those with CNS inflammation (encephalitis and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis) [14 800 pg/ml (400, 32 400)], compared to those with encephalopathy [1410 pg/ml (756, 1446)], peripheral syndromes (Guillain-Barré syndrome) [740 pg/ml (507, 881)] and controls [872 pg/ml (654, 1200)]. Serum neurofilament light levels were elevated across patients hospitalized with COVID-19, irrespective of neurological manifestations. There was not the usual close correlation between CSF and serum neurofilament light, suggesting serum neurofilament light elevation in the non-neurological patients may reflect peripheral nerve damage in response to severe illness. We did not find significantly elevated levels of serum neurofilament light in community cases of COVID-19 arguing against significant neurological damage. Glial fibrillary acidic protein, a marker of astrocytic activation, was not elevated in the CSF or serum of any group, suggesting astrocytic activation is not a major mediator of neuronal damage in COVID-19