Case Analysis (20%)

Assignment: Write a case analysis on ONE of the following cases: (to access the case, double click on it)

R. v. Sparrow, [1990]

Winnipeg Child and Family Services v. G. (D.F.), [1997]

Gosselin v. Québec (Attorney General), [2002]

Gosselin v. Québec (Attorney General), [2005]

Vriend v. Alberta, [1998]

Your case analysis must be composed of two parts. The first part describes the case, and, the second part, analyses the judgment and discuses its socio-political impacts.

1) A short introduction (a short paragarph)

It sets out the context for the discussion by establishing what exactly will be focused on in the commentary? What is the controversy? What needs to be explained? State your thesis

2) Description/Background Information: (about one and half pages)

a)  Facts: Furnish a brief digest of the facts of the case (which are to be found in the body of a court ruling.)

b) A brief Legal history of the case.

c) Main legal issues:outline the main legal issues raised by the case.

The main legal issues of a case are summarized in the brief synopsis that follows the heading of a reported case. You should be prepared to go beyond this synopsis when describing the main issues. This may be an occasion when you might want to introduce extra-legal issues you think are relevant to the case.

d) Judgments:  report accurately the judgment in the case. This means explaining what was decided, by whom (e.g. was it a majority), reasoning, was there a minority (dissenting) written opinion?

3) Main Section-Case Analysis:  (about three pages)

a) Critically examine the reasoning of the judge.

b) Eexplain the social and political implications of the legal decision.

 

Additional instructions/information:

Case Comment

A case comment, as the name suggests, is an extended commentary on a particular court case. The purpose

of a case comment is to give a writer the opportunity to assess not only how a specific case was disposed of

in court, but also (1) to survey the development of that area of the law represented by the selected case and

(2) socio-political consequences of the decision. A case comment should therefore be regarded as a type of

interpretative essay which focuses on a particular case, but which is not limited to a simple exposition of its

details.

A successful case comment combines description and analysis. The case itself needs to be described

succinctly. At the same time the judgment must be analyzed. The analysis will be helped by some

understanding of the state of the law with which the case in question is concerned. Understanding the state of

the law means having some knowledge of precedent decisions in the area under investigation. Hence a

commentary will almost invariably include a brief chronicle of how the court has decided similar cases. The

point of supplying such a legal context is to help determine not only what the law has been in a certain area

but also the extent to which the subject case affirms or departs from a line of precedents.

In short, a legal history helps highlight why the chosen case is important. How does one determine the legal

history of a particular subject matter that has come before the courts? To begin with, the Judgment you

are examining invariably will contain a list of cases which the Court considered when reaching its

decision in the present case. These cases are in one way or another relevant precedents so you can quickly

look at them to see what courts have decided in the past in this particular area of the law.

Two general texts on Canadian constitutional law that are helpful in pointing out how courts have

decided broad areas of the law are: Peter W. Hogg, Constitutional Law of Canada Student Edition, and

Patrick Monahan, Constitutional Law.

Describing the details of a case and its legal context do not exhaust the requirements of an effective case

comment. For cases have not only a legal but a social and political significance. In other words, court rulings

often have weighty social and political consequences, indeed, may not be understandable outside the social

and political environment that gave rise to them. Hence in most instances a successful case comment will

draw on a wider political and social context to better  explain and analyze a specific ruling. Such a wider

context may help illuminate where, why, and how certain legal controversies arise. The broader social and

 political context may be key to identifying why a case is important enough to warrant an extended commentary.

Organization:

A case comment is not unlike a conventional essay insofar as its general structure is concerned. It must begin

with a concise introduction wherein a problem is clearly identified--the thesis statement that is so crucial to

a well-written essay. The body of the essay must be illustrative of the thesis statement, and the conclusion

must be well-grounded in what has come before. Because case comments often deal with controversies

within the law, students should be prepared to take a strong position when analyzing a case. This means that

students should feel free to criticize court judgements if those judgements seem inappropriate (though

criticisms should be grounded in argument.)

While there is no established set of rules as to how to write a case comment, the  paper should be arranged

 according to a number of specific subject headings as outlined in the above. The attraction of using subject

 headings is that they can serve as a convenient map for the writer thereby facilitating the planning of the essay.

As well, subject headings may prove to be useful in deterring some of the most common problems in essays,

 including the problems of repetition and irrelevant information.

Miscellaneous Hints:

a. Decisions by the Supreme Court can be accessed directly through the internet at

http://scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/index.html.

b. A number of decisions of lower courts in Canada can be accessed at

http://www.canlii.org/en/index.html

c. Samples of brief case comments can be found at The Court, an Osgoode Hall Law Schoolsponsored

blawg containing discussions of Supreme Court decisions:

http://www.thecourt.ca/

d. The best way to learn how to do a case commentary is to read a few. Case commentaries

can be found in legal journals like the Supreme Court Law Review or Osgoode Hall Law

Journal (one of many university law journals—this one is accessible online through the York

University library system). The former is an invaluable guide to legal research because it

contains a review of the Constitutional law decisions of the previous Supreme Court term.

Other law journals also attempt to supply accounts of the evolving state of the law in a

variety of areas. Some other Canadian reviews and journals of note include the Canadian

Bar Review and the National Journal of Constitutional Law. Two Canadian legal indexes

which will prove to be essential in your researches are: Index to Canadian Legal Literature

and Index to Legal Periodicals and Books,. Both these indexes are available online through

the Scott Library electronic resources section (from the library homepage click on

eResources, then “find articles by subject”, then under Social Sciences click on “Law”.)

e. You should attempt to read entire cases rather than summaries. To get a sense of what the

established jurisprudence is in the area of law you are investigating, look at the cases cited by

the Court (majority) in support of its ruling in the subject case. Also, look for case commentaries

in the academic literature.

f. It is useful to note any dissenting opinions (if written) because these opinions can give you some

indication of how controversial the majority decision is, and may persuade you of a line of

criticism of the majority.