State Citizen Condensed Midterm Exam Notes国家amp；公民简明中期考试笔记.doc

I. CONSTITUTIONAL THEMES Role of Constitution In a federal parliamentary democracy, a constitution establishes: Who has authority to make the law; How that authority is divided among the levels of government Each legislature is supreme within its jurisdiction unless the constitution imposes limits (as does the Charter) Adaptability: The courts interpret the division of powers and the limits on the powers (treating it as a “living tree”); The constitution also establishes an amendment process Second, the constitution establishes the relationships between institutions of the state ( Explicitly, in writing, or ; Implicitly, by convention Rule of Law A fundamental underlying principle CASES: Roncarelli, Secession Reference, Authorson, Bacon, BC v. Imperial Tobacco, Manitoba Reference, s. 52(1) Re ordinary legislation: Constitution Act, 1982, s. 52(1); Re the actions of governments and officials: the rule of law requires that they comply with the law, including the Constitution. The principle is explicitly acknowledged in the preamble to the Charter: The rule includes: The actions of officials must be authorized by law. The law is supreme over officials as well as private individuals, and thereby precludes arbitrary use of executive power Both officials and private individuals are tried in the ordinary courts Roncarelli v. Duplessis [SCC][1959] Director relied on his statutory discretion to award or revoke liquor licences SCC: a statutory discretion must be exercised in good faith for a proper and authorized purpose, and on the basis of relevant considerations Officials must conduct a licensing system with impartiality and integrity They cannot use it to punish an individual for acts that are irrelevant to the regulated activity Limits on the Rule of Law as a constitutional principle BC v. Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. (SCC 2005)(94) BC legislation authorizing government to sue tobacco manufacturers re health care costs; Validity challenged: on the basis of t