The Alberta Supreme Court at 100: History and Authority
edited by Jonathan Swainger, Professor, Department of History, University of Northern British Columbia.
Published by the Osgoode Society and the University of Alberta Press
Cost: $44.50
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Description
The centenary of the Supreme Court of Alberta provides an excellent occasion for reflection on its history, and we are grateful to this volume's editor, Jon Swainger, for putting together this collection. The first two chapters provide an overview of the institutional history, and the remainder examine the court's jurisprudence in its historical context, exploring the relationship between the court and the province as both moved through the twentieth century. The collection examines the extent to which the Court articulated a specifically Albertan response to the varied legal questions of the past century, analysing First Nations' hunting rights, oil and gas law, water law, gender, the Hutterites and religious freedom, and the constitution. This volume contributes substantially to our growing knowledge of the history of Canada's superior courts.
[The] essays make good use of case studies as well as Supreme Court authority to produce a most interesting and readable book. Book Review Editor, Alberta History, Spring 2008
[T]en excellent contributions to an understanding of the work of the
court in [many] fields.... [A] decisive advance in the historical
scholarship surrounding the work of the Superior Courts in Canada.
Justice Gilles Renuad, High Court Quarterly Review, vol 5, 2009
