Unit 9 - Legal Systems

Question 1

Sources of Law

Answer 1

Constitutional, Statute, Common Law

Question 2

Constitutional Law

Answer 2

relates to law as defined in the constitution

Question 3

Statute Law

Answer 3

Established by elected officials formed as statutes (federal and provincial) or bylaws (municipal) and often further operationalized through regulations

Question 4

Common Law (also called Case Law)

Answer 4

Established through prior legal decisions (precedent) in courts of law. Rooted in English common law.

Note that statute law (when established) generally overrides common law

Question 5

Constitutional Institutions

Answer 5

These are the rules about making rules (outlined in the constitution)

Dr. Summers can’t just go out and set a speed limit of 20km/h, no one gave him the right to do so

Question 6

Constitutional Division of Powers

Answer 6

The rights to develop and enforce rules are laid out in our Constitution. This includes the Constitution Act 1867 and the Constitution Act 1982 (which includes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms)

Question 7

Jurisdiction

Answer 7

The legal authority over an issue (Dr. Summers doesn’t have jurisdiction over setting speed limits)

Question 8

Subject matter jurisdiction

Answer 8

Jurisdiction over a particular subject

Since Canada made cannabis federally legal, Alberta cannot just make it illegal because they don’t have subject matter jurisdiction

Question 9

Geographic Jurisdiction

Answer 9

Jurisdiction over a particular territory

Provincial government of Alberta could set a 20km/h speed limit in AB, but not in Saskatchewan

Question 10

WHAT does Regulatory Law (Federal Jurisdiction) cover?

Answer 10

Taxation

International and inter-provincial trade and commerce

To regulate navigation and seacoast and inland fisheries

Responsibility for Indians and lands reserved for Indians

To make criminal law

TO PROTECT THE PEACE, ORDER AND GOOD GOVERNANCE OF CANADA

Question 11

What does Pronvical Jurisdiction Cover?

Answer 11

Taxation, energy production within the province, non-renewable natural resources and forestry resources

The fed cannot override these, unless they use the Peace, Order and Good Governance clause

Question 12

Municipalities rights of law

Answer 12

Have the rights to make bylaws as permitted by provincial law

Are often involved in the regulation and monitoring of federal and provincial laws

Planning departments, police departments, bylaw officers

Plays an increasingly important role in environmental management

Question 13

What is an example of a constitutional law case?

Answer 13

Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, based on the Peace, Order and Good Governance clause, the government chose to make a mandatory carbon tax

Question 14

Statute

Answer 14

Law or bylaw passed by an elected legislative body (parliamentary, legislature)

Can be very specific, or generalized

Question 15

Example of a specific and general statute in Alberta

Answer 15

(General) The solicitor general has the power ot set speed limits for all roadways in the province

(Specific) The solicitor general has set the speed limit for 100km/h for Alberta Highway 2

Question 16

Regulations

Answer 16

rules created by an administrative agency that details the specifics of how statutes will be enforced.

Sets what is permitted, prohibited and what is required within a jurisdiction

Question 17

Example of a regulation

Answer 17

The Alberta Water act states that all casing used in water wells has 34mm thickness

Question 18

Tort Law

Answer 18

A tort is a ‘wrong’ perpetuated against someone else (or their property)
The ‘rights’ are determined from constitutional law, common law, statute law, and contracts. OFTEN JUST WHEN SOMEONE SUES ANOTHER PERSON

We have the right to swing our arms as much as we want, but that right ends where someone else’s nose begins

Question 19

What was Aldred’s Case (Example of Tort Law)

Answer 19

William Aldred claimed that Thomas Benton had erected a pigsty too close to his house, so that the stench made his own house unbearable to live in

Question 20

What happened in the Pacific Gas & Electric case

Answer 20

Dumped more than 300,000,000 gallons of waste containing 65 tones of hexavalent chromium

Residents Sued (tort law)

Question 21

Impacts of Tort Law on Environmental Management

Answer 21

Fear of being sued motivates individuals/companies to avoid environmental degradation

Flexible - can address any number of situations & adapts to environmental ethic of the time

Economists like it because it is a way of ‘internalizing the externalities’ by compensating those harmed and adding cost to those causing harm

Question 22

Limitations of Tort Law in Environmental Management

Answer 22

Highly Anthropocentric - you can’t sue on behalf of animals or nature (except in Columbia)

Cannot address harm to future generations

Highly influenced by power relations due to the burden placed upon the plaintiff and the defendants to prove case