Law Students

Canadian Constitutional Law #25: Application of the Charter and Charter Standing

By Erin

Whose behaviour is bound by the Charter? Sec 32 tells us it applies to government (as opposed to private actors), but in practice this is more difficult to define than it would seem. We will look at a series of cases which define the limits of the Charter’s application. Over time, a body of case law has been built up which places some quasi-governmental entities under Charter jurisdiction (for example, municipalities) while other entities (universities, hospitals, the CBC) are usually not considered to by part of government. However, even a non-governmental entity may be subject to the Charter in certain situations if it executes a government function.

Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union Local 580 v Dolphin Delivery Ltd., (1986)
Shelley v Kraemer, (1948)
New York Times v Sullivan, (1964)
McKinney v University of Guelph, (1990)
Godbout v Longueuil, (1997)
Eldridge v British Columbia, (1997)
Vriend v Alberta, (1998)
Hill v Church of Scientology of Toronto, (1995)

Full post as published by Life of a Law Student on March 09, 2007 (boomark / email).