The aim of this assignment is to allow you to examine a particular court case and observe the different strategies used by the lawyers and judges in analyzing and rendering a decision on a particular case. The main idea is to understand how a case evolves (from the trial level to the highest court of appeal) and how the final decision is made (looking at all the elements of legal reasoning used by the judges). Look carefully on how a how a court decision is presented, how judges balance different concerns, how they deal with parties' claims, how they use different sources in making a decision.

 

For this assignment, you are analyzing the R. v. Beaver case of the Supreme Court of Canada, review the facts of the cases, the judicial history, the parties' arguments and the rationale of the judges in rendering a decision. 

 

What needs to be included: The written analysis should include the following elements:

- The link of the source and the reference to the court case (neutral citation) (1
mark)
- The judicial history of the case (previous lower courts decisions) and a short
summary of the case (2 marks)
- An analysis of the main argument(s) raised by the parties and how the judges responded to them (3 marks)
- What strategies and sources are used by the judges to render the final decision (example: how they balanced different interests, what legal tests they employed, what primary or secondary sources they considered) (5 marks)
- Based on required, recommended, or other readings of your choice, do you
agree with the final decision of the court (don't be hesitant presenting your views) What themes/topics from our course do you notice while reading the case? (3 marks).
- Examine what could be the future impact of the case for the society at large. How do you see the role of the judges/courts in relation to this case? (4 marks)
- Provide full citation to all materials used (academic and non-academic) (2 marks)
- use at least 5 (five) academic sources, (deduct 0.4 for every missing academic source)

 

The evaluation of this assignment will focus on your understanding of legal cases and the role of the courts and our judicial system at large.
Remember: there are always 2 sides of the same story in every court case and the
judges have the difficult role to decide in favor of only one side. You should
identify this adversarial tension in your court case and apply the course