Intensive Course (graduate students only): Introduction to the Canadian Legal System (LAW535H1F)

The course will provide law students trained in foreign legal systems with an overview of the Canadian Legal System (including sources of legal authority, separation of powers, levels of government, organization of the Courts and Tribunals and the main categories of the Canadian legal system). Students will study judicial review of governmental action (constitutional and administrative review), the role of judges as law makers or law interpreters (including common law concepts such as precedent, stare decisis, ratio decidendi, obiter dictum, the rules of statutory interpretation and theories about the proper role of judges). The course will also provide insight into private law areas, for example, contract, tort, property and equity.