Canada’s Constitution and Courts

This chapter explores the development of Canadian constitutionalism leading up to judicial engagement with the horizontal effect of rights. The Supreme Court of Canada already enjoyed an exceptionally broad jurisdiction when the enactment of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 gave it an extensive set of constitutional rights to interpret. At the same time, the very breadth of the Court’s formal powers was a reason to use them carefully, especially because the Charter triggered anxieties about federalism among many advocates for provincial autonomy. This chapter shows how, in this context, the Supreme Court of Canada had little to gain from announcing a far-reaching constitutionalization of private law.

Autonomy · Charter · Constitution · Constitutional law · Constitutionalism · Context (archaeology) · Democracy · Federalism · Fundamental rights · Human rights · Judicial Independence · Judicial review · Jurisdiction · Original jurisdiction · Political science · Politics · Supreme court · History · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Legal principles and applications · Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies · canada · Civil law · Civil rights · Germany · Political questions and judicial power · united states