everything.study
AP/PPAS 4130

Politics, Law and the Courts

6.0 credits

Fall/Winter 2026–2027

Topics

  • Canadian courts and public policy
  • Judicial power, constitutional rights and legislative dialogue
  • The notwithstanding clause and limits on courts
  • Access to justice and legal mobilization
  • Climate litigation, displacement and homelessness

Readings

  • Assigned: Ian Greene, The Courts and Public Policy, in Governing Canada (1993).
  • Assigned: E. Crandall and A. Lawlor, Public Support for Canadian Courts: Understanding the Roles of Institutional Trust and Partisanship (2022).
  • Assigned: Emmett Macfarlane, Dialogue or Compliance? Measuring Legislatures’ Policy Responses to Court Rulings on Rights (2013).
  • Assigned: James B. Kelly, Constraining the Court: Judicial Power and Policy Implementation in the Charter Era (2024), introduction and chapter 1.
  • Recommended: Malcolmson and Myers, The Canadian Regime, 7th ed. (2021).
  • Recommended: Hausegger and others, Canadian Courts, 3rd ed. (2025); Ian Greene, The Courts (2006).
Sources