Canadian Administrative Law
SLN #: 18555Course Prefix: LAW-691
Course Section: 023
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor(s): Sikka
Course Books: View List of Books
Course Description:
Canadian Administrative Law is the body of law regulating the ways in which the government operates. It is about the rules and limits that apply to not only the operations of the Crown, Cabinets, Ministers, government departments, and municipal corporations but also the various administrative tribunals and agencies deployed by governments for the carrying out of governmental functions of all kinds. It is concerned with the procedures by which all these various instruments of government operate, the jurisdictional and substantive limits on their mandates, and the remedial structures that exist to ensure that decision-makers of various kinds act in accordance with the rule of law. As well, throughout the course, students are encouraged to reflect upon the divide between public law and private law and, in particular, the circumstances under which governmental authorities of various kinds or in various capacities are subject not to the special regime of Administrative Law principles and remedies but to the private law rules of contract, tort, restitution and the like.
Some regard Administrative Law as simply a subset of Constitutional Law and, to the extent that, for example, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and other constitutional and other quasi-constitutional enactments (such as the Canadian Bill of Rights) serve to place limits or constraints on the way in which public decision-makers act, there is overlap between this course and that in Constitutional Law. However, it is not a course about the policing of the divide between federal and provincial jurisdiction enshrined in the Constitution Act, 1867 and the other statutes that constitute the Canadian constitution. Nor does it concern itself in detail with the constitutional incidents of the Crown, Parliament and the various legislative assemblies, or the executive branch.
Rather the primary questions considered in this course are:
1. The circumstances under which governmental decision-makers are subject to an obligation of procedural fairness to those affected by their decisions, and, where applicable, the content of that obligation.
2. The extent to which the substantive decisions of assigned decision-makers are subject to merits scrutiny by the courts in the name of jurisdiction or other principles of substantive review such as error of law, error of fact, and abuse of discretion, and especially the standard of review that reviewing courts bring to bear in exercising that constitutionally guaranteed capacity.
3. The remedial framework within which the superior courts, both federally and provincially, exercise their review powers.
4. The bases upon which the courts will not only exercise direct powers of review but also provide monetary compensation for wrongful administrative action.
Additional Information:
Credit Hours: 3
Grading Option: Letter Grade Only
Graduation Writing Requirement: No
Flexible/Upper-Level Writing Requirement: No
Skills Requirement: No
Simulation Course: No
Experiential Learning: No
Seminar: No
Special Withdrawal Course: No
Final Exam Given: Yes
Final Exam Type: Take-Home
Attendance Policy: Per Statement Of Student Policies
* The law school has a policy that is used to calculate credit hours. Please see the Statement of Student Policies.