WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE PO210 INTRODUCTION TO LAW FALL 2013 Instructor: Prof.

Phaedra Klodner, B.A (Political Science), L.L.B. Office: 4 127 (DAWB) Office hours: Tuesdays: 5:30- 7:00 p.m. Telephone extension: 3374 (during office hours) Class Room: BA101 Class Time: Tuesdays from 7:00-10:00 p.m. Email: pklodner@wlu.ca Tutorials: T1: 1M 3:30-4:20 pm, S101 T4: T 5:00-5:50 pm, BA305 T2: T 4:00-4:50 pm, BA305 T5: T 5:30-6:20 pm, BA208 T3: M 4:30-5:20 pm, S101 Note: Tutorials begin in Week 1 and end in Week 11.

W ilfrid Laurier University uses software that can check for plagiarism . Students m ay be required to subm it their written work in electronic form and have it checked for plagiarism . Students with disabilities or special needs are advised to contact Laurier's Accessible Learning Office for inform ation regarding its services and resources. Students are encouraged to review the Calendar for inform ation regarding all services available on cam pus. The Political Science Departm ents policy on deferred midterm and final examinations can be found at http://www.wlu.ca/arts/politicalscience.

COURSE DESCRIPTION This course is designed to provide an introduction to law, its structure and the institutions of the Canadian legal system. Students will be exposed to the fundamentals of the Canadian legal system including the characteristics of natural law, legal positivism, legal realism, ethics and professional responsibility, civil litigation, torts, criminal law, administrative law, family law, role of the judiciary, and alternative dispute resolution. It will also provide a practical approach on how to carry out legal research which will be of great assistance to those students who wish to pursue a legal career as well as those who simply wish a greater familiarity with the law. This course does not cover every aspect of the law this would be impossible to do. Instead, the goal is to provide a general yet practical understanding of the law and the tools necessary to engage in critical thought. In order to assist in accomplishing this goal, there will be several guest speakers who have specialized knowledge in an area covered by me in lectures, including defence counsel, Crown attorney, mediator/arbitrator, former RCMP officer, Superior Court Judge, civil litigator and a corporate/commercial lawyer.

CLASS HOUSEKEEPING I encourage students to speak to me before or after class, or to make appointments to discuss the course, assignments etc. If you schedule an appointment and need to cancel, please advise me in advance. If I receive no reasonable prior notice of a cancellation of an appointment, I will only see you during my regular office hours. Lectures are an essential part of this course and you should make sure to attend every one. I will not provide copies of my lecture notes for any reason. If you miss a class, you will need to request notes from one of your classmates. From my perspective, there is no such thing as a stupid question. Do not be afraid to ask questions in my class. This class is designed to be very participatory in nature. If you wish to be successful in this course, it is imperative that you attend all lectures. Simply relying on the textbook will not be enough for this course Please turn off all cellular telephones during class. If you require your telephone on for some reason, please advise me in advance. If your telephone rings during one of my lectures without a valid reason discussed in advance, I will ask you to leave the class and not return for the remainder of the class. Do not ask me for legal advice for yourself; or anyone else, and remember that I am your professor, not your lawyer!

COURSE ORGANIZATION This course is organized around twelve lessons based upon prescribed course material. It will include a text, as well as important material which will be available to you online that is not covered in the text. This material will largely consist of case law. A case-study approach similar to that used by Canadian law schools will be employed in this course.

COURSE MATERIALS Required Text (available at the WLU Bookstore): Dr. Frances E. Chapman, Introduction to Legal Studies 2013. First Canadian Edition. Nelson Education Ltd. Additional course material will be required as noted above.

COURSE EVALUATION Assignment Midterm CANLII Assignments Group Court Assignment Case Brief Final Exam Value 20% 10% 15% 25% 30% Date Due October 22, 2013 (in class) 1) October 1, 2013 2) October 15, 2013 3) October 29, 2013 November 12, 2013 November 19, 2013 To be set by the Registrar

THE EXAMS The midterm will cover the first half of the course and the final examination will cover the rest of the course. Both exams will cover lectures including guest speakers and all course materials. Both exams will consist of short answer questions, an essay question, and multiple choice questions. There will be some choice on the short answer and essay questions.

LIST OF LECTURE TOPICS AND READINGS *Chapters refer to Introduction to Legal Studies 1. SEPTEMBER 10, 2013: Introduction Chapter 1 a) b) c) d) What is Law? Different views of the Law (natural law, legal positivism, judicial realism) Common Law versus Civil Law Supernatural theories of crime

2. SEPTEMBER 17, 2013: The Legal Profession, Ethics and Professional Conduct Chapter 2 and course materials provided to you on September 10, 2013 a) b) c) d) e) Role of parties/counsel in the Canadian judicial system Legal Aid and pro bono work Rules of Professional conduct How can a lawyer defend someone who he/she knows is guilty? So you want to be a Judge?

Guest Speaker: Jim Malvern (General Practitioner) 3. SEPTEMBER 24, 2013: Civil Litigation and Contract Law Chapters 3 and 4 and course materials provided to you on September 17, 2013 a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) j) k) l) m) n) Role of law Court hierarchy Statute Law versus Case Law Statutory interpretation Case Brief The trial process Principles of Contract Law Types of contracts What constitutes a contract? Consideration Capacity Setting aside invalid contracts Issues affecting Contract Law If the contract is broken, what can you do?

Guest Speaker: David Steele (Civil and Corporate Litigator)

4. OCTOBER 1, 2013: Administrative Law and Tort Law Chapters 5 and 7 and course materials provided to you on September 24, 2013 a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) j) What is a tort? (It is not a piece of cake!) Tort liability and conditions to be met Intentional torts (unique and special categories of torts) Tort defences What is administration law? Rules of natural justice Tribunal versus Court Pros and cons of the administrative system Judicial review Remedies

5. OCTOBER 8, 2013: Family Law Chapter 6 and course materials provided to you on October 1, 2013 a) b) c) d) e) f) Federal versus Provincial powers Family Law Court system Marriage Domestic Contracts Common law versus married couples Issues arising out of separation

Guest Speaker: Lorrie Stojni (Family Law Lawyer)

6. OCTOBER 15, 2013: The Judiciary Chapter 13 and course materials provided to you on October 8, 2013 a) b) c) d) e) Judges privacy Wrongful convictions Coerced/false confessions Are experts always right? C.S.I. effect

Guest Speaker: The Honourable Mr. Justice Campbell (Superior Court of Ontario Judge) 7. OCTOBER 22, 2013: Mid-term Exam

8. OCTOBER 29, 2013: Constitutional Law Chapter 8 and course materials provided to you on October 22, 2013 a) b) c) d) e) Concept of Parliamentary Supremacy Structure of the Constitution Act, 1982 Division of powers Intra Vires versus Ultra Vires Constitutional issues and the Court

Guest Speaker: Michael Lannan (Civil Litigator) 9. NOVEMBER 5, 2013: Criminal Law Chapter 9 and course materials provided to you on October 29, 2013 a) Sources of Criminal Law b) Civil Law versus Criminal Law versus Common Law c) The adversarial system d) The Court system e) Elements of a criminal offence f) Parties to an offence g) Inchoate Offences h) Regulatory Offences Guest Speaker: Catrina Braid (Crown Attorney) 10. NOVEMBER 12, 2013: The Charter, Criminal Procedure and Evidence Chapter 10 and course materials provided to you on November 5, 2013 a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) j) Overview of Charter of Rights and Freedoms Exclusion of evidence Arrest procedure Limitation of Rights Confessions Plea bargains Burden of proof Election Presumption of innocence Testimony

Guest Speaker: Paul Williams (Defence and Family Counsel, former RCMP Officer)

11. NOVEMBER 19, 2013: Criminal Law Defences and Sentencing Chapters 11 and 12 and course materials provided to you on November 12, 2013 a) b) c) d) Types of defences Double jeopardy and Res Judicata Sentencing principles Sentencing options

Guest Speaker: Val Ruoso (Defence and Family Counsel) 12. NOVEMBER 26, 2013: Alternative Dispute Resolution and Hot Topics in Law Chapter 12 and course materials provided to you on November 19, 2013 a) Types of alternative dispute resolution b) Hot topics: Facebook, assisted suicide, collapse of Legal Aid Guest Speaker: Donald A. McIntyre (Mediator/Arbitrator)

ASSIGNMENTS 1) CANLII ASSIGNMENT Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII) is a not for profit organization managed by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. It provides free access to various reported cases across Canada. You will be asked to find one case related to a legal question on a subject area covered during the course. There will be six questions provided during the first day of class and you will be requested to choose three of them to research using CanLII. You will be required to provide a brief description of the facts and the decision reached by the presiding Justice on the three legal questions you have chosen. You will also be required to provide your own opinion as to whether or not you agree or disagree with the decision reached by the Court. It should be no longer than 2 pages long, double spaced. A copy of the decision should be attached to your CanLII Assignment. The purpose of the CanLII Assignment is threefold, namely: i) To begin learning how to carry out basic legal research; ii) To analyze case law; and iii) To engage in critical/analytical thought.

2) CASE BRIEF ASSIGNMENT Case law is one of the key sources of the law and routinely referred to by lawyers when advocating on behalf of a client. A decision can often make or break a clients case, no matter how skilled the lawyer is. Being able to prepare a case brief is an important skill to have, if you wish to pursue a legal career. For this assignment, you will be preparing a case brief no longer than 10 pages double spaced. There is no legal research required. During the first class, you will be provided with 5 or 6 Supreme Court of Canada decisions. You will choose one of these decisions to prepare a case brief. A case brief is a synopsis of a case which provides the following analysis: (1) What are the facts of the case? You need to pinpoint the facts that are relevant to the decision reached. It should include who are the parties , what is the dispute about and how did the parties reach the Supreme Court of Canada level. Your goal is to include all pertinent information and leave out the extraneous information. This is a hard skill to master and it may take several drafts to summarize the facts.

(2) What are the legal issue(s) regarding what specific provision of law that is to be decided in the case? Frequently, only one issue will be discussed, but sometimes there may be more than one. (3) What was the majoritys decision? (4) What was the minority/dissenting opinion (if any)? (5) What law/rules/tests has the Supreme Court of Canada applied in this case? You need to analyze and apply legal concepts referred to in the decision. How did the Supreme Court of Canada reach the decision that they did? (6) If there was a minority/dissenting opinion, how does it differ in the application of the law/rules/tests from how the majority ruled? You should not, therefore, write in the first person. Unlike the CanLII Assignment, this is not an opinion paper and you should not include your own views. A case brief should be written in a formal and objective manner. 3) GROUP ASSIGNMENT In order to really understand how the Court system works, it is necessary to observe a Court in session. In addition, working in the legal system often requires working as part of a team. You will be put into groups of 5 during the first class. You will attend Court and follow the proceedings for one morning or afternoon with your assigned group. You will write a group report on your observations focussing on legal issues discussed in class, or referred to in the textbook. Your groups report will include the following: i) A description of what Court you were in (civil, criminal, youth, family) and the date and time you were there. ii) In a summary fashion, what were the facts of the case(s) that you observed? iii) What legal issues were raised? iv) What was your impression of the Judge? v) What was your impression of the parties or counsel (if applicable)? vi) What was your impression of how the Court functioned? vii) What was the outcome of what happened in Court? viii) How are the legal concepts raised in class applicable to what you have observed? There is no need to carry out any additional research. If you wish to make reference to the textbook or cases referred to in class, you are encouraged to do so.

The Group Assignment should be no longer than 5 pages double spaced. I will be providing a list of dates and times the various Courts operate during the first day of class. Accordingly, please make sure YOU BRING YOUR CALENDER TO THE FIRST DAY OF CLASS. It will be necessary to work on scheduling which groups will attend at what times, so that I can make arrangements with Court staff. The Court House cannot accommodate everyone in the class attending the same Court hearing. Please be advised that you are not permitted to attend Court where child protection issues are being raised, or the Court has closed access to the public as a result of a Court imposed publication ban.

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