“The mass wedding of some 60 gay and lesbian couples at Casa Loma during the World Pride event in Toronto got me thinking about how laws restricting who can marry have changed over time,” wrote Philip Girard, legal historian and professor at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, in Law Times July 21. “It’s easy to forget that the prohibition on same-sex marriage is only the most recent legal impediment to marriage to have fallen.” Read full story.
Putin’s Ukraine woes compounded by $103 billion Yukos claim
Russia will discover next week how much it may be asked to pay for the confiscation a decade ago of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s Yukos Oil Co., then the country’s biggest oil producer, reported Bloomberg.com July 23…. GML, the former holding company of Yukos, has a good chance of winning partial damages, according to Gus Van Harten, a professor specializing in arbitration at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School in Canada. Read full story.
LAO rejects prof’s allegation of ‘culture of secrecy’
An Osgoode Hall Law School professor has resigned as a member of Legal Aid Ontario’s (LAO’s) immigration and refugee advisory committee after citing “a culture of secrecy” at the organization, reported Law Times July 21. In a July 3 letter to LAO board chairman John McCamus, Prof. Sean Rehaag said he could no longer serve on the committee in good conscience as he had “lost confidence in LAO management.” Read full story.
Editorial: Transparency call at LAO
Since becoming premier, Kathleen Wynne has touted transparency with her bid to make more government information, particularly data, easily available to the public. But according to Osgoode Hall Law School Prof. Sean Rehaag, Legal Aid Ontario has been failing in this regard, reported Law Times July 21. He resigned from its immigration and refugee law advisory committee recently over concerns about its reluctance to release information that would help his research on immigration and refugee issues. Read full story.
Is the universe a bubble? Let's check
Proponents of the multiverse theory argue that it's the next logical step in the inflation story. Detractors argue that it is not physics, but metaphysics – that it is not science because it cannot be tested.…That's where York University Professor Matthew Johnson comes in…. He is working to bring the multiverse hypothesis firmly into the realm of testable science. "That's what this research program is all about," he said in Space Daily July 23. "We're trying to find out what the testable predictions of this picture would be, and then going out and looking for them." Read full story.
Are banks eating estates lawyers’ lunch?
Outdated law school curriculums are contributing to a bleak future for the trusts and estates bar, a Canadian legal futurist predicts…. According to Vincent De Angelis, current chairman of the Ontario Bar Association’s trusts and estates section, law schools should consider MBA programs in wealth management. Indeed, law students are among those enrolled at the wealth-management course offered by York University’s Schulich School of Business, reported Law Times July 21. Read full story.
We need to sweat
According to a new Canadian study, a lot of us are too comfortable and the old adage “no pain no gain” holds some truth, reported The Daily Courier July 22. Researchers at York University in Toronto found that most people underestimate what the national guidelines for moderate to vigorous activity are and they overestimate their own efforts. Read full story.
TTC wants to sell $51.7-million tunnel boring machines to Chinese company for just $9.2 million
The Toronto Transit Commission wants to sell four tunnel boring machines that burrowed the Spadina subway extension for a fraction of what it paid, arguing that it doesn’t make sense to reuse the excavation technology on future projects. Yorkie, Torkie, Holey and Moley, as they were christened, have completed their 6.4-kilometre journey from Downsview station to York University and Vaughan, reported the National Post July 21. Read full story.
Roderick Macdonald: A mentor to generations of lawyers
From an early age, York alumnus Roderick Macdonald set his heart on doing the impossible, reported The Globe and Mail July 21…. Although he had never played anything more than touch football, the 6-foot-2 young man tried out to become the first-string quarterback for York University’s varsity team under head coach Nobby Wirkowski, formerly the coach of the Toronto Argos. He made it (although he stepped aside once he’d reached his goal, not wanting to risk an injury). Then he turned that same determined, questing spirit on a career as a law professor. Read full story.
Can our minds control electronic devices?
Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab (PEAR) at Princeton University is famous for experiments it conducted showing our minds may actually affect the operations of electronic devices, reported Epoch Times July 18…. Stanley Jeffers, professor emeritus of physics at York University in Canada, said in an article published by The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry that he finds PEAR’s methodology unsound. Read full story.