The Supreme Court of Canada as an Instrument of Political Change

commissioned as part of the research program of the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada (The Macdonald Commission). It consists of three more-or-less related studies. The first entitled 'Political Ideas in Quebec and the Evolution of Canadian Constitutional Law, 1945-1985' is by Andree Lajoie, Pierrette Mulazzi and Michele Gamache. This study is by far the longest of the three and by far the most puzzling. The authors have attempted an ambitious and ambiguous task, namely 'to establish a relationship as broad as the subject of the macroanalysis from which it is drawn, but nevertheless, and perhaps even more significant, the relationship between contemporary political thought in Quebec and the development of Canadian constitutional law from 1945 to 1985' (p.3). If that statement lacks sufficient clarity, perhaps the restatement of their aim a page later will help the prospective reader: 'We will analyze the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court from 1945 to 1982 [sic], according to a set of variables including the composition of the bench; the date at which the situation in question arose; the date of the decision; the origin and subject matter of the decision; the reasons of the court and the constitutional theories or doctrines on which the decision is

Political change · Political science · Politics · Supreme court · Law · Legal and Social Philosophy