Each year UVic faculty, staff, students, alumni, and retirees produce an incredible amount of intellectual content reflecting their breadth and diversity of research, teaching, personal, and professional interests. A list of these works is available here.
The Constitution of Canada: A Contextual Analysis is a recent title by UVic Dean of Law, Jeremy Webber.
About the Book
The Constitution of Canada: A Contextual Analysis introduces and describes the principal characteristics of the Canadian constitution, including Canada’s institutional structure and the principal drivers of Canadian constitutional development. The constitution is set in its historical context, noting especially the complex interaction of national and regional societies that continues to shape the constitution of Canada. The book argues that aspects of the constitution are best understood in ‘agonistic’ terms, as the product of a continuing encounter or negotiation, with each of the contending interpretations rooted in significantly different visions of the relationship among peoples and societies in Canada. It suggests how these agonistic relationships have, in complex ways, found expression in distinctive doctrines of Canadian constitutional law and how these doctrines represent approaches to constitutional legality that may be more widely applicable. As such, the book charts the Canadian expression of trans-societal constitutional themes: democracy; parliamentarism; the rule of law; federalism; human rights; and Indigenous rights, and describes the country that has resulted from the interplay of these themes.
About the Author
Jeremy Webber is Professor and Dean of Law at the University of Victoria. He is an internationally-recognized scholar on cultural diversity, constitutional theory, and indigenous rights. Before coming to the University of Victoria, he was Dean of Law at the University of Sydney and prior to that, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research in the Faculty of Law at McGill University. He has also held the Canada Research Chair in Law and Society, was a Trudeau Fellow, and has taught, mentored, and supervised countless students.
Praise for the Book
“The Constitution of Canada is a masterpiece – an outstanding and original study of the Canadian constitutional experience by one of Canada’s leading legal scholars. Webber explains the history, characteristics and resourcefulness of the living constitution in non-technical and illuminating language. He also shows how the constitution is shaped by the engagement and interaction of the diverse people of Canada, who are simultaneously subjects and active citizens of it – a dynamic he calls ‘agonistic constitutionalism’.” – James Tully, Distinguished Professor, University of Victoria
“Jeremy Webber has given us a rich, contextual account of Canada’s constitution. Webber moves beyond the confines of constitutional texts and judicial decisions and grounds his account in the circumstances of the country’s history. Only such an account can capture the deep diversity that is the hallmark of Canada’s constitutional culture.” – Peter Russell, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto
“This books is an umbrella of fundamental principles, covering flexibility, accommodation and negotiation necessary to enable members of a constitutional community who may disagree on issues but who want to remain bound together within a country and society. Impressive!” – Gregory Tardi, Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law
