1.
Parliament of Canada
–
The Parliament of Canada is the federal legislative branch of Canada, seated at Parliament Hill in the national capital, Ottawa, Ontario. The body consists of the Canadian monarch, represented by a viceroy, the general, an upper house, the Senate, and a lower house. Each element has its own officers and organization, by constitutional convention, the House of Commons is the dominant branch of parliament, the Senate and Crown rarely opposing its will. The Senate reviews legislation from a less partisan standpoint and the monarch or viceroy provides the necessary Royal Assent to make bills into law. The governor general also summons parliament, while either the viceroy or monarch can prorogue or dissolve parliament, either will read the Throne Speech. The most recent parliament, summoned by Governor General David Johnston in 2015, is the 42nd since Confederation in 1867, the Parliament of Canada is composed of three parts, the monarch, the Senate, and the House of Commons. Each has a role, but work in conjunction within the legislative process. Only those who sit in the House of Commons are called members of parliament, though legislatively less powerful, senators take higher positions in the national order of precedence. No individual may serve in more than one chamber of parliament at the same time, the sovereigns place in the legislature, formally called the Queen-in-Parliament, is defined by the Constitution Act,1867, and various conventions. All federal bills begin with the phrase Now, therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada. And, as such, the Crown is immune from acts of parliament unless expressed otherwise in the act itself. As both the monarch and his or her representatives are traditionally barred from the House of Commons, any parliamentary ceremonies in which they are involved take place in the Senate chamber. The upper and lower houses do, however, each contain a mace, which indicate the authority of the Queen-in-Parliament, following the burning of the Centre Block on 3 February 1916, the City of London, England, donated a replacement, which is still used today. The temporary mace, made of wood, and used until the new one arrived from the United Kingdom in 1917, is carried into the Senate each 3 February. The Senates 1. 6-metre-long mace comprises brass and gold, senators served for life until 1965, when a constitutional amendment imposed a mandatory retirement age of 75. Senators may, however, resign their seats prior to that mark, the Senate is divided equally amongst four geographic regions,24 for Ontario,24 for Quebec,24 for the Maritimes, and 24 for the Western provinces. Newfoundland and Labrador, which became a Canadian province in 1949, is represented by six senators, further, Canadas three territories—the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and Nunavut—are allocated one senator each. The elected component of the Canadian parliament is the House of Commons, with each member chosen by a plurality of voters in each of the countrys federal electoral districts
2.
Canada
–
Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
3.
Common law
–
Common law is the body of law developed from the thirteenth century to the present day, as case law or precedent, by judges, courts, and tribunals. In cases where the parties disagree on what the law is, if a similar dispute has been resolved in the past, the court is usually bound to follow the reasoning used in the prior decision. Resolution of the issue in one case becomes precedent that binds future courts, stare decisis, the principle that cases should be decided according to consistent principled rules so that similar facts will yield similar results, lies at the heart of all common law systems. A common law system is a system that gives great precedential weight to common law. Common law systems originated during the Middle Ages in England, today, one third of the worlds population live in common law jurisdictions or in systems mixed with civil law. The term common law has many connotations, the first three set out here are the most-common usages within the legal community. Other connotations from past centuries are seen, and are sometimes heard in everyday speech. Blacks Law Dictionary, 10th Ed. gives as definition 1,1, the body of law derived from judicial decisions, rather than from statutes or constitutions, CASELAW, STATUTORY LAW. In this connotation, common law distinguishes the authority that promulgated a law. e, examples include most criminal law and procedural law before the 20th century, and even today, most contract law and the law of torts. Interstitial common law decisions that analyze, interpret and determine the fine boundaries. Publication of decisions, and indexing, is essential to the development of common law, while all decisions in common law jurisdictions are precedent, some become leading cases or landmark decisions that are cited especially often. Blacks 10th Ed. definition 2, differentiates common law jurisdictions, by contrast, in civil law jurisdictions, courts lack authority to act if there is no statute. Judicial precedent is given less weight, which means that a judge deciding a given case has more freedom to interpret the text of a statute independently. For example, the Napoleonic code expressly forbade French judges to pronounce general principles of law. As a rule of thumb, common law systems trace their history to England, blacks 10th Ed. definition 4, differentiates common law from equity. This split propagated to many of the colonies, including the United States, for most purposes, most jurisdictions, including the U. S. federal system and most states, have merged the two courts. Additionally, even before the courts were merged, most courts were permitted to apply both law and equity, though under potentially different procedural law. In the United States, determining whether the Seventh Amendments right to a jury trial applies or whether the issue will be decided by a judge, the standard of review and degree of deference given by an appellate tribunal to the decision of the lower tribunal under review
4.
Minister of Justice (Canada)
–
The Minister of Justice is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the Department of Justice, chief federal legal adviser and is also Attorney General of Canada. This cabinet position is reserved for someone holding a legal qualification. There have been exceptions, Joe Clark only studied the first year of law at University of British Columbia Faculty of Law before embarking on political life and this is the only Canadian Ministry which has not been reorganized since its creation in 1867. The Attorney General of Canada is the top prosecuting officer in Canada, the role is part of the cabinet post of the Minister of Justice. The role was created in 1867 replacing the Attorney General of Canada West, key, Attorney General of Upper Canada Attorney General of Lower Canada
5.
James Fitzjames Stephen
–
Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, 1st Baronet was an English lawyer, judge and writer. Born in Kensington, London, he was the son of James Stephen, the brother of the author and critic Sir Leslie Stephen, the uncle of Virginia Woolf, and he was educated at Eton College, and for two years at Kings College London. In October 1847 he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, although an outstanding student he did not win any prizes, mainly because he was uninterested in mathematics or classics, which formed the basis of the course. He was already acquainted with Sir Henry Maine, six years his senior, although their temperaments were very different, their acquaintance became a strong friendship, which ended only with Maines death in 1888. Stephen was introduced by Maine into the Cambridge society known as Cambridge Apostles, Stephen chose a legal career, which was on balance a notable one, He was a member of the Viceregal Council and later Professor of Common Law at the Inns of Court. He was largely occupied with work on codification, some of which were introduced as bills in the Westminster Parliament. He was, however, responsible for the Indian Evidence Act,1872, in 1879 he became a judge of the High Court. After leaving Cambridge, Stephen decided to go into law and he was called to the bar in 1854 by the Inner Temple. In his earlier years at the bar he supplemented his income from a successful and he contributed to the Saturday Review from the time it was founded in 1855. He was in company with Maine, Harcourt, G. S. Venables, Charles Bowen, both the first and the last books published by Stephen were selections from his papers in the Saturday Review. These volumes embodied the results of his studies of publicists and theologians, chiefly English and he never professed his essays to be more than the occasional products of an amateurs leisure, but they were well received. From 1858 to 1861, Stephen served as secretary to a Royal Commission on popular education, in 1859 he was appointed Recorder of Newark. The foundation of the Pall Mall Gazette in 1865 gave Stephen a new literary avenue and he continued to contribute until he became a judge. The decisive point of his career was in the summer of 1869 and his friend Maine was his immediate predecessor, Guided by Maines comprehensive talents, the government of India had entered a period of systematic legislation which was to last about twenty years. Stephen had the task of continuing work by conducting the Bills through the Legislative Council. The Native Marriages Act of 1872 was the result of deep consideration on both Maines and Stephens part, the Indian Contract Act had been framed in England by a learned commission, and the draft was materially altered in Stephens hands before, also in 1872, it became law. The Indian Evidence Act of the year, entirely Stephens own work, made the rules of evidence uniform for all residents of India, regardless of caste, social position. Stephen, mainly for reasons, came home in the spring of 1872
6.
England
–
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
7.
Lottery
–
A lottery is a form of legalized government gambling that involves the drawing of numbers for a prize. Lotteries are outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to some degree of regulation of lottery by governments. This remained so well after World War II. In the 1960s casinos and lotteries began to re-appear throughout the world as a means for governments to raise revenue without raising taxes, for example, the prize can be a fixed amount of cash or goods. In this format there is risk to the organizer if insufficient tickets are sold, more commonly the prize fund will be a fixed percentage of the receipts. A popular form of this is the 50–50 draw where the promise that the prize will be 50% of the revenue. Many recent lotteries allow purchasers to select the numbers on the lottery ticket, the purchase of lottery tickets cannot be accounted for by decision models based on expected value maximization. The reason is that lottery tickets cost more than the gain, as shown by lottery mathematics. Yet, lottery purchases can be explained by decision models based on expected utility maximization, more general models based on utility functions defined on things other than the lottery outcomes can also account for lottery purchase. In addition to the prizes, the ticket may enable some purchasers to experience a thrill. If the entertainment value obtained by playing is enough for a given individual. The first recorded signs of a lottery are keno slips from the Chinese Han Dynasty between 205 and 187 BC and these lotteries are believed to have helped to finance major government projects like the Great Wall of China. From the Chinese The Book of Songs comes a reference to a game of chance as the drawing of wood, from the Celtic era, the Cornish words teulel pren translates into to throw wood and means to draw lots. The Iliad of Homer refers to lots being placed into Agamemnons helmet to determine who would fight Hector, the first known European lotteries were held during the Roman Empire, mainly as an amusement at dinner parties. Each guest would receive a ticket, and prizes would often consist of items such as dinnerware. Every ticket holder would be assured of winning something and this type of lottery, however, was no more than the distribution of gifts by wealthy noblemen during the Saturnalian revelries. The earliest records of a lottery offering tickets for sale is the organized by Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar
8.
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
–
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in Canada often simply the Charter, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act,1982, the Charter guarantees certain political rights to Canadian citizens and civil rights of everyone in Canada from the policies and actions of all areas and levels of the government. It is designed to unify Canadians around a set of principles that embody those rights, the Charter was signed into law by Queen Elizabeth II of Canada on April 17,1982 along with the rest of the Act. The Charter was preceded by the Canadian Bill of Rights, which was enacted in 1960, however, the Bill of Rights is only a federal statute, rather than a constitutional document. As a federal statute, it can be amended through the legislative process and has no application to provincial laws. The Supreme Court of Canada also narrowly interpreted the Bill of Rights, the relative ineffectiveness of the Canadian Bill of Rights motivated many to improve rights protections in Canada. The movement for human rights and freedoms that emerged after World War II also wanted to entrench the principles enunciated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Charter, however, granted new powers to the courts to enforce remedies that are more creative, as a result, the Charter has attracted both broad support from a majority of the Canadian electorate and criticisms by opponents of increased judicial power. The Charter only applies to government laws and actions, and sometimes to the common law, under the Charter, people physically present in Canada have numerous civil and political rights. Most of the rights can be exercised by any legal person, the rights are enforceable by the courts through section 24 of the Charter, which allows courts discretion to award remedies to those whose rights have been denied. This section also allows courts to exclude evidence in trials if the evidence was acquired in a way that conflicts with the Charter, Section 32 confirms that the Charter is binding on the federal government, the territories under its authority, and the provincial governments. Every case in which a court discovers a violation of the Charter would therefore require a section 1 analysis to determine if the law can still be upheld, Section 1 has thus been used to uphold laws against objectionable conduct such as hate speech and obscenity. Section 1 also confirms that the rights listed in the Charter are guaranteed, in addition, some of these rights are also subjected to the notwithstanding clause. The notwithstanding clause authorizes governments to temporarily override the rights and freedoms in sections 2 and 7–15 for up to five years, the Canadian federal government has never invoked it, and some have speculated that its use would be politically costly. In the past, the clause was invoked routinely by the province of Quebec. The provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta have also invoked the clause, to end a strike and to protect an exclusively heterosexual definition of marriage. The territory of Yukon also passed legislation once that invoked the notwithstanding clause, Section 4, the maximum duration of legislatures is set at five years. Section 5, a sitting of legislatures is required as a minimum
9.
September 11 attacks
–
The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11,2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia and it was the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively. Suspicion for the attack fell on al-Qaeda. The United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks. Although al-Qaedas leader, Osama bin Laden, initially denied any involvement, al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U. S. support of Israel, the presence of U. S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives. Having evaded capture for almost a decade, bin Laden was located and killed by SEAL Team Six of the U. S. Navy in May 2011. S. many closings, evacuations, and cancellations followed, out of respect or fear of further attacks. Cleanup of the World Trade Center site was completed in May 2002, on November 18,2006, construction of One World Trade Center began at the World Trade Center site. The building was opened on November 3,2014. The origins of al-Qaeda can be traced to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden traveled to Afghanistan and helped organize Arab mujahideen to resist the Soviets. Under the guidance of Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden became more radical, in 1996, bin Laden issued his first fatwā, calling for American soldiers to leave Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden used Islamic texts to exhort Muslims to attack Americans until the stated grievances are reversed, Muslim legal scholars have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries, according to bin Laden. Bin Laden, who orchestrated the attacks, initially denied but later admitted involvement, in November 2001, U. S. forces recovered a videotape from a destroyed house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In the video, bin Laden is seen talking to Khaled al-Harbi, on December 27,2001, a second bin Laden video was released. In the video, he said, It has become clear that the West in general and it is the hatred of crusaders. Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, the transcript refers several times to the United States specifically targeting Muslims. He said that the attacks were carried out because, we are free, and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security we undermine yours, Bin Laden said he had personally directed his followers to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
10.
Terrorism
–
Terrorism is, in its broadest sense, the use of intentionally indiscriminate violence as a means to create terror or fear, in order to achieve a political, religious, or ideological aim. It is classified as fourth-generation warfare and as a violent crime, in modern times, terrorism is considered a major threat to society and therefore illegal under anti-terrorism laws in most jurisdictions. It is also considered a war crime under the laws of war when used to target non-combatants, such as civilians, neutral military personnel, a broad array of political organizations have practiced terrorism to further their objectives. It has been practiced by both right-wing and left-wing political organizations, nationalist groups, religious groups, revolutionaries, and ruling governments, there is no universally agreed upon definition of the term, and many definitions exist. According to data from the Global Terrorism Database, more than 61,000 incidents of non-state terrorism, Terrorism comes from the French word terrorisme, and originally referred specifically to state terrorism as practiced by the French government during the 1793–1794 Reign of Terror. The French word terrorisme in turn derives from the Latin verb terrere meaning to frighten, the Jacobins, coming to power in France in 1792, are said to have initiated the Reign of Terror. After the Jacobins lost power, the word terrorist became a term of abuse, although terrorism originally referred to acts committed by a government, currently it usually refers to the killing of innocent people for political purposes in such a way as to create a spectacle. This meaning can be traced back to Sergey Nechayev, who described himself as a terrorist, Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist group Peoples Retribution in 1869. It is a form of state-terrorism, the concept was however developed long before the Second Gulf War by Harlan Ullman as chair of a forum of retired military personnel. The definition of terrorism has proven controversial, various legal systems and government agencies use different definitions of terrorism in their national legislation. Moreover, the community has been slow to formulate a universally agreed. These difficulties arise from the fact that the term terrorism is politically and emotionally charged, in this regard, Angus Martyn, briefing the Australian parliament, stated, The international community has never succeeded in developing an accepted comprehensive definition of terrorism. The international community has adopted a series of conventions that define. U. S. Bruce Hoffman, a scholar, has noted, experts and other long-established scholars in the field are equally incapable of reaching a consensus. Four years and a second later, Schmid was no closer to the goal of his quest. Walter Laqueur despaired of defining terrorism in both editions of his work on the subject, maintaining that it is neither possible to do so nor worthwhile to make the attempt. Hoffman believes it is possible to some key characteristics of terrorism. A definition proposed by Carsten Bockstette at the George C, such acts are meant to send a message from an illicit clandestine organization
11.
Supreme Court of Canada
–
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada, the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, the creation of the court was provided for by the British North America Act,1867, renamed in 1982 the Constitution Act,1867. The first bills for the creation of a supreme court, introduced in the Parliament of Canada in 1869. It was not until 8 April 1875 that a bill was passed providing for the creation of a Supreme Court of Canada. Prior to 1949, however, the Supreme Court did not constitute the court of last resort, as well, some cases could bypass the court and go directly to the Judicial Committee from the provincial courts of appeal. The Supreme Court of Canada formally became the Court of last resort for criminal appeals in 1933, the last decisions of the Judicial Committee on cases from Canada were made in the mid-1950s, as a result of their being heard in a court of first instance prior to 1949. The increase in the importance of the court was mirrored by the numbers of its members, the court was established first with six judges, and these were augmented by an additional member in 1927. It was in 1949 that the bench reached its current composition, prior to 1949, most of the appointees to the Supreme Court of Canada owed their position to political patronage. Each judge had strong ties to the party in power at the time of their appointment, in 1973, the appointment of a constitutional law professor, Bora Laskin, as chief justice represented a major turning point for the court. Increasingly in this period, appointees either came from backgrounds or were well-respected practitioners with several years experience in appellate courts. Laskins federalist and liberal views were shared by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the evolution from the Dickson court through to the Lamer court witnessed a continuing vigour in the protection of civil liberties. Lamers criminal law background proved an influence on the number of cases heard by the court during his time as chief justice. Nonetheless, the Lamer court was more conservative with charter rights, the appointment of Beverly McLachlin as chief justice in 2000 has resulted in a more centrist and unified court. Dissenting and concurring opinions are fewer than during the Dickson and Lamer Courts, with the 2005 appointments of Justices Louise Charron and Rosalie Abella, the court became the worlds most gender-balanced national high court, four of its nine members being female. Justice Marie Deschamps retirement on 7 August 2012 caused the number to fall to three, the appointment of Suzanne Côté on 1 December 2014 restored the number of female justices to four. At the next level are the provinces and territories superior courts, judgments from the superior courts may be appealed to a still higher level, the provincial or territorial courts of appeal. Several federal courts also exist, the Tax Court of Canada, the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal, unlike the provincial superior courts, which exercise inherent or general jurisdiction, the federal courts jurisdiction is limited by statute. In all there are over 1,000 federally appointed judges at various levels across Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada rests at the apex of the judicial pyramid
