The Canadian Charter, the British Connection, and the Americanization Thesis
Toward a Montesquieuean Analysis of Rights and Their Protection
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6239345 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Samuel V Laselva (University of British Columbia, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 1061-1081 |
| Publication date | 2017-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Canadian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0008-4239 • E-ISSN: 1744-9324 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0008423917000130 |
| OpenAlex | W2733701541 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 26 |
This article examines the Canadian Charter with reference to “the British connection” and “the Americanization thesis.” It also attempts to demonstrate the importance of Montesquieu'sThe Spirit of the Lawsin addressing these issues. Pierre Trudeau insisted that a Charter of Human Rights would provide Canadians with a new beginning and settle difficult questions about the Canadian identity. His critics said that fundamental rights were already protected because Canada had a constitution similar in principle to the United Kingdom, and that the proposed Charter was a step in the Americanization of Canada. What a Montesquieuean analysis helps to identify are significant limitations in both “the British connection” account and “the Americanization thesis.” And, by the avoiding the abstract universalism of Trudeau's “inalienable rights” theorizing and Dworkin's “rights as trumps” regime, a Montesquieuean analysis also helps to demonstrate the distinctiveness of Canadian constitutionalism from Confederation to the Charter
Americanization · Charter · Constitution · Constitutionalism · Democracy · Human rights · Optimal distinctiveness theory · Political science · Politics · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Canadian Identity and History · Law · Political Theory and Influence
Introduction to the study of the law of the constitution
The ideological origins of the American Revolution.
Against the Current
The Federalist
What the Anti-Federalists Were For
Trudeau and the End of a Canadian Dream
The Canadian Founding
Montesquieu and Rousseau
Leading Constitutional Decisions
Civil Liberties in Canada
The Supreme Court and the Constitution 1919-1920
The Emergence of the Federal Concept in Canada 1839-1845
Continental Divide
The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self
The Judicial Committee and Its Critics
Alexander Hamilton and the Founding of the Nation
Fame and the Founding Fathers
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |