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eLaw Journal: Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law |
Author: | James A Thomson LLB (Hons), BA (UWA); LLM, SJD (Harvard) |
Issue: | Volume 6, Number 1 (March 1999) |
The release on August 20 1998 of the Supreme of Canada's advisory opinion on the right of the Province of Québec to secede from the Canadian federation (the Québec Secession case) occasioned considerable interest from observers of federal systems. The decision prompted the School of Law at Murdoch University, in collaboration with the Federal Court of Australia in Perth, to organise a roundtable discussion. This became "Constitutional Principles for a Principled Constitution: Lessons from the Québec Secession Decision", Murdoch University, School Of Law Seminar Series, Federal Court Boardroom, Perth, Thursday, 15 October 1998.
The purpose of the roundtable was to stimulate interest in the decision, by exploring different ways in which it might be considered. Three of the four contributions to that roundtable are published in this issue of E Law with some modifications made after their presentation.
Each such contribution indeed adopts a different perspective on the decision. Taking the authors alphabetically, Professor Greg Craven's paper (The Quebec Secession Reference: The Law Of Politics Or The Politics Of Law?) considers the problematic character of the decision considered as a formal legal document. His concern is with the strains produced by the variety of objectives the Supreme Court could be seen to have set itself. His particular interest is in the use of Canadian material in the current constitutional discussions in Australia, in which he has been an active participant. Professor Craven has written extensively on secession.
Professor Ralph Simmonds (Why Québec Secession Matters) focusses on and celebrates one of those objectives of concern to Professor Craven, the decision's intended contribution to the debate about the nature of Canadian federalism. His particular interest stems from his background as some one who has spent considerable time living and working in Québec, and who is interested in theories of federalism when it is under threat.
Dr James Thomson (Getting Out: Secession and Constitutional Law) reflects on the character of the Québec secession decision particularly when viewed from the perspectives of provinces and states in a federation and comparative constitutional law.
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URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MurdochUeJlLaw/1999/3.html