The Canadian Department of Justice and the Completion of Confederation 1867-78

The Canadian Department of Justice and the Completion of Confederation 1867-78
Author :
Publisher : UBC Press
Total Pages : 178
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780774841993
ISBN-13 : 0774841990
Rating : 4/5 (990 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Canadian Department of Justice and the Completion of Confederation 1867-78 by : Jonathan Swainger

Download or read book The Canadian Department of Justice and the Completion of Confederation 1867-78 written by Jonathan Swainger and published by UBC Press. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The federal Department of Justice was established by John A. Macdonald as part of the Conservative party's program for reform of the parliamentary system following Confederation. Among other things, it was charged with establishing national institutions such as the Supreme Court and the North West Mounted Police and with centralizing the penitentiary system. In the process, the department took on a position of primary importance in post-Confederation politics. This was particularly so up to 1878, when Confederation was "completed." Jonathan Swainger considers the growth and development of the ostensibly apolitical Department of Justice in the eleven years after the union of 1867. Drawing on legal records and other archival documents, he details the complex interactions between law and politics, exploring how expectations both inside and outside the legal system created an environment in which the department acted as an advisor to the government. He concludes by considering the post-1878 legacy of the department's approach to governance, wherein any problem, legal or otherwise, was made amenable to politicized solutions. Unfortunately for the department and the federal government, this left them ill-prepared for the constitutional battles to come. One crucial task was to establish responsibilities within the federal government, rather than just duplicate offices which had existed prior to union. Others were the establishment of national or quasi- national institutions such as the Supreme Court (1875) and the North-West Mounted Police (1873), the redrafting of the Governor-General's instructions (which was done between 1875 and 1877), and centralization of the penitentiary system (completed by 1875). The Department benefited from a deeply rooted expectation that law was both apolitical and necessary. This ideology functioned in a variety of ways: it gave the Department considerable latitude for setting policy and solving problems, but rationalized the appearance of politicized legal decisions. It also legitimized Department officials' claim that it was especially suited to review all legislation, advise on the royal prerogative of mercy, administer national penitentiaries, and appoint judges to the bench. Ultimately, the fictional notion of law as apolitical and necessary placed the Department of Justice squarely in the midst of the completion of Confederation. The Canadian Department of Justice and the Completion of Confederation will be of particular interest to students and scholars of Canadian legal and political history.


The Canadian Department of Justice and the Completion of Confederation 1867-78 Related Books

The Canadian Department of Justice and the Completion of Confederation 1867-78
Language: en
Pages: 178
Authors: Jonathan Swainger
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-11-01 - Publisher: UBC Press

GET EBOOK

The federal Department of Justice was established by John A. Macdonald as part of the Conservative party's program for reform of the parliamentary system follow
The Death Penalty and Sex Murder in Canadian History
Language: en
Pages: 382
Authors: Carolyn Strange
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-10-01 - Publisher: University of Toronto Press

GET EBOOK

From Confederation to the partial abolition of the death penalty a century later, defendants convicted of sexually motivated killings and sexually violent homic
Prime Ministerial Power in Canada
Language: en
Pages: 413
Authors: Patrice Dutil
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2017-06-09 - Publisher: UBC Press

GET EBOOK

Many Canadians lament that prime ministerial power has become too concentrated since the 1970s. This book contradicts this view by demonstrating how prime minis
Westward Bound
Language: en
Pages: 361
Authors: Lesley Erickson
Categories: Law
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-08-01 - Publisher: UBC Press

GET EBOOK

Westward Bound debunks the myth of Canada’s peaceful West and the masculine conceptions of law and violence upon which it rests by shifting the focus from Mou
Hunger, Horses, and Government Men
Language: en
Pages: 305
Authors: Shelley A.M. Gavigan
Categories: Law
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012-10-24 - Publisher: UBC Press

GET EBOOK

Scholars often accept without question that the Indian Act (1876) criminalized First Nations. In this illuminating book, Shelley Gavigan argues that the notion