LAW EXAM

• Public law


  The law between individuals and the state
• Tribunals and bureaucrats


  • Governmental and governmental authorities
  • A court or an adjudicative body
  • Examples: Federal Canadian Human Rights Commission, Labour Standards Tribunal of Nova Scotia
• Power of bureaucrats


  Come from tribunals set up by statute
• Administrative law


  Law that sets out rules and regulations that need to be followed
• With most tribunals there are most complaints
• Examples of tribunals


  • Immigration
  • Human rights tribunal
  • Ontario municipal board
• Who serves on a board vs. Tribunal

  • Tribunal: Individual appointed by the government
  • Board: Interviewed by other board members (3, verbal, written: not all the time but most the time, can have a deciding decision, majority wins)
  • Tribunal: You may be specialized in an area
  • Board: Quasi-traditional appointment
• Considerations when getting onto a board

  • Need education and background experience
  • Do not need to be a lawyer but it'll be helpful
  • Demonstrate you can be impartial, personal biases will not be in affect
  • Have to understand what the tribunal rules are
  • Certain tribunals for certain areas of law
• Role of tribunals


  • Adjudicate similar to a judge, with the legislation they are working with
  • Act fairly
  • A lot more relaxed
• People that appear in front of a tribunal are mostly Unrepresented, let the rule of evidence lack (a lot of hearsay)
• Tribunals are not written down, and have no transcript, so it will be hard to have a precedent
• Lack of evidence leads to this
• You can ask for an appeal and judicial review
• Principles of natural justice

  • You as a participant are entitled to fair play
  • When the hearing day is
  • Where you are going
  • What evidence you are going to face
  • Make sure the tribunal is not biased
• Difference between tribunal and court

  • Tribunals can regulate people unlike a judge (court)
  • Courts are bound by precedent (stare decisis), tribunals don't have to
  • Courts are more strict, tribunals are more relaxed
• Courts can trump a decision from a tribunal
• Trumping occurs because of no due process, principles of natural justice, free hearing, and participation
• Mr. Knight was dismissed from his job (janitorial job)
• Ratio: Determining fairness


  • Is the decision final
  • What was the relationship between governing body and complainant
  • Did the decision have an important impact on the complainant
• There was a duty of fairness because the decision was final, there was a power imbalance, and it had an important impact on Mr. Knight
• Mr. Knight should have been given reasons why he was let go from the board
• Pros of administrative system

  • Not strict
  • Board has a little more discretion and power
  • Tribunal costs less money, person represents themselves and has no legal fees
• Cons of administrative system

  • Evidence can be shaky (double hearsay)
  • No Transcripts (motivated comment, tribunal can say they never said it)
• When a tribunal acts in bad faith

  • Misleads what is happening in the hearing
  • Disregards principles of natural justice
  • Has an improper purpose
  • Takes into account irrelevant factors
  • Fails to take into account relevant factors
• Different remedies available to tribunal if they mess up

  • Quash the decision
  • Prohibition - Stopping the Tribunal from Acting
  • Habeas corpus
  • Damages
• Most common remedies are quashing and damages
• If you want to appeal a tribunal it goes to court
• Every tribunal has their own complaint procedure, they first try to mediate complaints before bringing to tribunal
• Ontario Human Rights Commission

  • Enforcing human rights code
  • You have the right to be free from 5 areas of discrimination: Employment, Services, Unions, Vocational Associations, Contracts
  • There are 17 grounds of discrimination
• To establish discrimination


  You must satisfy 3 things: Have a characteristic protected by the code, Experience adverse treatment in one of the social areas, Protected characteristic was a factor in the adverse treatment
• Case scenario: Kyle is a young man who went to a bar on 'ladies night' where women are charged less than men, he wants to file a human rights complaint on the grounds of sex
• The tribunal dismissed the case, finding that it is not discrimination
• Substantive equality vs formal equality


  Substantive equality is about achieving equitable outcomes for disadvantaged and marginalized groups, not just equal opportunities
• A prison guard named Luke Perrin does more paperwork for the women's institution compared to the men's institution
• Constitution


  • Contains a body of law
  • Establishes a framework for government and how they operate
  • Supreme law of the country, overrides all other law
  • Written and unwritten principles for how the government operates
• The Constitution Act of 1867 established Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia
• What constitutional law is made of

  • Conventions
  • Statutes
  • Case law
  • Proclamations (Charter)
  • Treaties
• What a constitution should be able to do

  • Deal with things that come up in the future
  • Change with society
  • Provide a framework
  • Be flexible enough to meet the needs of society
• Who works within the constitution

  • Legislative
  • Executive
• Canada's constitution is based on the constitution of the United Kingdom, which is based on parliamentary supremacy