Law Studies 12

Unit 1: Constitutional Foundations & the Courts

The rulebook and the referees: the Constitution of Canada as supreme law and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms it entrenches, then the structure of the federal and provincial courts and administrative tribunals that apply and interpret them.

• The Constitution of Canada: supreme law, division of powers, amendment

• The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: guaranteed rights, reasonable limits, notwithstanding clause

• Structure and hierarchy of federal and provincial courts and administrative tribunals, including small claims

• Case and common law and the independence of the judiciary and lawyers

• Rights of the accused, the appeals process, and victims' rights (Canadian Victims Bill of Rights)

Unit 2: Areas of Law

Different kinds of legal problems are governed by different bodies of law, each with its own purpose, parties, standard of proof, and remedies: criminal law, civil law, and family, children's, and youth law.

• Criminal law: the Criminal Code, burden of proof (reasonable doubt), checks and balances against wrongful convictions

• Civil law: torts, contracts, and the balance-of-probabilities standard

• Family, children's, and youth law, including the Youth Criminal Justice Act

• Conduct a legal inquiry: resolve a civil legal issue, self-represent before a court or tribunal, evaluate legal evidence, and run or judge a mock trial

Unit 3: First Peoples & Indigenous Legal Orders

Canadian legislation has shaped, and often harmed, the lives of First Peoples through specific named statutes — and alongside, and prior to, that legislation, Indigenous peoples in Canada and around the world hold their own legal orders and traditional laws that continue to govern communities today.

• Historical legislation concerning First Peoples: the 1763 Royal Proclamation, the Indian Act, and treaty processes

• Constitutional recognition and reconciliation: the Constitution Act 1982, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and self-determination/self-government

• Indigenous legal orders and traditional laws (Tlicho, Gitksan, Cree, and Tsimshian legal traditions; kinship networks)

• Alternative dispute resolution processes, including restorative justice

Unit 4: Corrections & Global Justice

Once a person is found guilty, the correctional system must decide what justice actually requires — and when disputes cross borders, no single national court has automatic authority, so the international system relies on its own agencies and courts.

• Correctional institutions and incarceration: provincial and federal institutions, levels and types of incarceration, youth corrections

• Principles of rehabilitation, punishment, and restoration, and the supportive reintegration of paroled offenders

• Global dispute-resolution institutions: the International Court of Justice, the World Trade Organization, and the United Nations

• Global disputes in practice: trade disputes and agreements and global initiatives on climate change