Abstract/Details

Legal reasoning in the Supreme Court of Canada: An empirical study

Muttart, Daved M.   York University (Canada) ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  2004. NQ99216.

Abstract (summary)

Jurisprudence has been notoriously feeble in supporting its philosophical analysis with empirical research. This dissertation makes an initial effort to remedy this deficiency in regard to courts' use of legal reasoning. Systematic sampling of the reasons for judgment rendered by the Supreme Court of Canada provided the basis on which to test several theories of legal reasoning and to document trends in the jurisprudence of the Court.

The Court's jurisprudence is trending towards more expansive and transparent modes of legal reasoning. Part of this trend is a rise in the rate of the overruling of precedents by the Court. While some overruling is necessary to bring the law into line with changing social circumstances, it may be necessary to control this rising rate in order to avoid unnecessarily increasing uncertainty in the law or impairing the efficacy of the legal process. Another strand of this expansive trend involves an increase in constitutional review and other activist tendencies. Under certain circumstances, this increase could disturb Canada's constitutional framework or imperil the Court's legitimacy.

Autonomous legal reasoning may provide one way of constraining and, where appropriate, legitimizing changes to the law and other activism by the Court. Failure to nurture and abide by objective legal reasoning will have the opposite effect. While Hartian positivism continues to be the predominant paradigm with respect to adjudication in Canada, the data indicate robust and persistent trends towards the utilization of principle and non-foundational reasoning by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Indexing (details)


Subject
Law
Classification
0398: Law
Identifier / keyword
Social sciences; Legal reasoning; Supreme Court of Canada
Title
Legal reasoning in the Supreme Court of Canada: An empirical study
Author
Muttart, Daved M.
Number of pages
545
Degree date
2004
School code
0267
Source
DAI-A 66/01, Dissertation Abstracts International
Place of publication
Ann Arbor
Country of publication
United States
ISBN
978-0-612-99216-0
Advisor
Hutchinson, Alan C.
University/institution
York University (Canada)
University location
Canada -- Ontario, CA
Degree
Ph.D.
Source type
Dissertation or Thesis
Language
English
Document type
Dissertation/Thesis
Dissertation/thesis number
NQ99216
ProQuest document ID
305111643
Copyright
Database copyright ProQuest LLC; ProQuest does not claim copyright in the individual underlying works.
Document URL
https://www.proquest.com/docview/305111643