VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Private Law, Public Right and the Duty to Rescue

This thesis explores the normative framework of private law from the standpoint of corrective justice. After identifying problems in the classic model of Kantian corrective justice, it argues that these difficulties can be remedied by modifying the heavy reliance of corrective justice upon Kantian legal philosophy. Further, by returning to an equality-based approach grounded in Aristotle’s principle of corrective justice, this thesis indicates the appropriate method for situating private law within a public realm. Finally, through a careful reanalysis of legal personality under corrective justice, this thesis sets the conceptual basis for the imposition of a limited duty of easy rescue.

Advisor: Benson, Peter
From Michael Brown To Yosef Salamsa: The Racialization of Ethiopian Jews in Israeli Law

This thesis presents a comparative analysis of the racialization of Israelis of Ethiopian descent in the Israeli justice system. Located at the intersection of criminal law doctrine and Critical Race Theory, the thesis analyses Israeli search and seizure cases by comparing them to Fourth Amendment law cases in the U.S. I argue that the lack of a lexicon with which to express harms caused to racialized minorities in the Israeli context stems, in part, from a reciprocal relationship between the Israeli national and legal cultures. I will show how aspects of this relationship can be used to reform the legal system. As the first extensive legal research on racial disadvantage faced by Ethiopian Israelis in the criminal justice system, this thesis seeks to add to the conversation regarding the lived experience of vulnerable communities of colour.

Keywords: Criminal Law
Critical Race Theory
Diversity
Ethnicity Studies
Law and Religion
Multiculturalism
Advisor: Moreau, Sophia R
The Role of the Judge in Wrongful Convictions: R v Mullins-Johnson

This thesis examines the role of the judgeicial education in preventing wrongful convictions. It focuses on the case of R v Mullins-Johnson. William Mullins-Johnson was accused of killing his niece by mechanical asphyxiation during an episode of sexual assault. He was convicted of first degree murder. After twelve years in jail, he was acquitted by the Ontario Court of Appeal. Fresh expert evidence revealed that the trial Crown expert opinions were unreliable, and that the pathology evidence was inconclusive of murder. This thesis explores what went wrong at trial, by comparing trial expert testimony to appeal expert testimony. It examines the role of a judge in a trial involving expert evidence, and in particular, whether thjudicial interventioneducation could have avoided thein avoiding wrongful conviction in this cases. It also reviews some of the issues that arise in the common law adversarial system when judges specially trained to handle scientific expert evidence are prohibited from applying their knowledge at trial.

Keywords: expert evidence
judicial education
role of trial judge
wrongful conviction
Advisor: Stewart, Hamish
Roach, Kent
Prosecuting and Sentencing Police Sexual Assaults: A Canadian Perspective

This thesis is intended to provide a first normative review of the justice system and Canadian criminal courts’ handling of police sexual assaults. To achieve this purpose, the author, after having described the phenomenon of police sexual misconduct and the implications of the legal concept of sexual assault (s. 271 Criminal Code), outlines the main barriers to prosecution and the sentencing framework that was generally applied in Canadian police sexual assault cases. The analysis is based on twelve cases heard before Canadian courts, but excludes ethics and professional misconduct cases from institutions such as the Special Investigation Unit in Ontario. Finally, the thesis concludes with a chapter dedicated to possible solutions. This last segment is divided into three subsections: before trial, at trial, and at the sentencing phase. Solutions suggested include not only legal reforms, but also educational changes in law schools. Ce mémoire analyse les cas d’agressions sexuelles commises par des policiers au Canada. Le phénomène d’inconduite sexuelle policière et le concept d’agression sexuelle (a. 271 du Code criminel) sont d’abord décrits. Puis, les principaux obstacles inhérents à la judiciarisation de ces cas et les principes de détermination de la peine qui s’appliquent sont précisés. Cette première étude en droit canadien est basée sur douze jugements rendus par des cours canadiennes, excluant cependant toutes décisions de comités de déontologie, et toutes inconduites professionnelles traitées par des institutions telles que l’unité des enquêtes spéciales de l’Ontario. Finalement, diverses solutions légales et éducationnelles (c.-à-d. préliminaires au procès, durant son cours et lors de la détermination de la peine) sont proposées pour remédier à ce problème sociétal.

Keywords: Barriers to Prosecution
Police Sexual Assault
Sentencing
Advisor: Stewart, Hamish
Legal Ambiguity in “Star Wars” – Why the Current Regime is Insufficient in Regulating Armed Conflict in Space

Space Law developed many decades ago to address the growing interest of Space exploration. The foundational treaties, the Space Law Treaties, were drafted during a time of significant political unease with an attempt to forestall the militarisation of Space. As such, the treaties reflect international objectives to ensure that Space is free from armed conflict and used for peaceful purposes. With growing technological developments and increased understanding of the Outer Space environment, it has become clear that the current legal regime, which includes both Space Law and International Humanitarian Law is insufficient to adequately regulate armed conflict in Space. This coupled with vagueness relating to undefined terms within the Space Law treaties, results in a legal framework that is burdened by ambiguity and conflicting rules. This thesis explores the law relating to armed conflict in Space and brings forth the numerous issues found within.

Keywords: Armed Conflict
International Humanitarian Law
International Law
Outer Space
Satellites
Space Law
Advisor: Su, Anna
Making the Invisible Visible: The Effects of Neuroscience on Mental Injury Claims

As neuroscience knowledge progresses, a biological understanding of learning, memory, behaviour, perception, and consciousness can be ascertained. As a result, neuroscience coupled with advancing neurotechnologies give novel insights into issues of the mind and its impact on various aspects of legal thinking. This thesis will argue that neuroscience will fundamentally change how injuries in tort law are perceived, using examples of concussions-related and brain injury litigation. This is possible because the progress made on neuroimaging of concussions and brain injuries will blur the line between physical injuries, and emotional and invisible injuries, thereby making the latter “visible” in the eyes of the law. Issues of proof of harm and causation can be more readily recognized and this new neuroscientific evidence will change how future concussion cases, and more broadly mental injury cases, are dealt with in the future.

Keywords: concussions
mental injury
neurolaw
neuroscience
neurotechnology
tort law
Advisor: Lemmens, Trudo
Promoting Knowledge: A Rationale for the Copyright Protection of Computer-Generated Works

Artificial intelligence systems can now produce complex artistic and literary works without human authorial contribution. However, considering the absence of authorship, they are currently not covered by copyright law. In past decades, many scholars argued for their protection but did not thoroughly address their claim under a copyright rationale. Building on this literature, this paper will propose a more comprehensive policy framework for the copyrightability of computer-generated works. It will analyze the Canadian Copyright Act under the foundational principle of the advancement of knowledge, which lies in its economic purpose. This objective focuses primarily on the extrinsic features of works, superseding the ambiguous notion of creativity and thus relegating authorship to a secondary role. Since computer-generated works also share with the public “expressive” knowledge, this paper will suggest allocating exclusive economic rights to the persons who arrange them. It can incentivize these persons to contribute to the promotion of knowledge.

Keywords: Artificial
Computer-Generated
Copyright
Intelligence
Protection
Works
Advisor: Niblett, Anthony
In Defence of the Due Diligence Defence: A Look at Strict Liability as Sault Ste. Marie Turns Forty in the Age of Administrative Monetary Penalties

The author looks back at the Supreme Court of Canada’s creation of a presumption that public welfare offences are strict liability offences affording defendants the opportunity to make out a due diligence defence. It is argued that the availability of this defence is receding in the face of a resurgence of absolute liability by means of administrative monetary penalties, which are increasingly being used by regulators to enforce compliance with regulatory requirements. While there is some support for the availability of the due diligence defence in the face of a potential administrative monetary penalty, the courts remain divided and numerous statutes expressly exclude it. It is argued that this ignores the important function that strict liability offences have served in encouraging corporate social responsibility through the development of compliance programs with the dual purpose of preventing harm and being able to demonstrate the taking of all reasonable care.

Keywords: Absolute Liability
Administrative Monetary Penalties
Due Diligence Defence
Public Welfare Offences
Regulatory Offences
Strict Liability
Advisor: Roach, Kent
Behavioral Economics and Securities Laws: The Theoretical Underpinnings of our Regulatory System and Their Application to Investor Sophistication

This thesis aims at giving an outlook of Canadian securities regulation through the lense of behavioral economics. The author develops it in two times: first, he poses the theoretical underpinnings of the Canadian regulatory system, mostly based on a presumption of investor rationality and the theoretical challenges that have been raised against this presumption. Secondly, he applies these competing theoretical frames to a set of securities rules, i.e. prospectus-exempt distributions and distributions of securitized products. He concludes by presenting an example of behavioral-oriented rules, and discussing why adapting the Canadian rulebook to these theoretical changes might be relevant.

Keywords: Behavioral economics
Behavioral finance
Canadian securities laws
Financial regulation
Investor sophistication
Securities
Advisor: Fadel, Mohammad H
The Systemic Failure to Protect Children with Mental Health Issues: An Analysis of the Failings of the Family Law and Criminal Justice Systems

A significant majority of children who are engaged with the family law (child welfare) and youth criminal justice systems suffer with mental health issues. Only a fraction of them get treatment. Without adequate supports and services these children may become enmeshed in a “vicious cycle”, with significant short and long-term consequences for children and families, as well as society as a whole. In this Thesis, I explore the role of the law, in theory and in practice, in the failure to provide these children with needed mental health services. Specifically, I investigate how the definition of mental health issues in the family law (child welfare) and criminal justice systems, and the failure in both systems to recognize the impact of the intersection of various factors (e.g. socioeconomic status, race, gender) on individual children (and families), leads to a systemic failure to adequately protect children with mental health issues.

Keywords: children's mental health
child welfare
intersectionality
legal system
systemic failures
youth criminal justice
Advisor: Lemmens, Trudo
The Limits of Laissez-Faire: Free Competition, Freedom of Contract, and Other-Regard as a Competing Principle of Commercial Private Law

A principle of laissez-faire has long dominated the doctrinal development of contract and tort as they apply to commerce. By contrast, opposition to laissez-faire developed in piecemeal fashion, which has precluded this opposition from amounting to a comprehensive critique of laissez-faire. This has proven problematic in light of research indicating that humans are prone to biases that inhibit their ability to maximize self-interest. In other words, laissez-faire fails to prevent humans from indulging in self-destructive tendencies. As a solution, this thesis posits that parts of contract, tort and fiduciary law already implicitly recognize an underlying principle of other-regard. This principle functions at the same level as laissez-faire, offering a safeguard against human irrationality that protects self-interest in a way that would be impossible under pure laissez-faire. Ultimately, commercial private law might more effectively achieve its objectives by recognizing a system of competing principles rather than a hegemony of one. Un principe de laissez-faire a longtemps dominé le développement doctrinal du contrat et de la responsabilité délictuelle dans la mesure où ils s'appliquent au commerce. En revanche, l’opposition au laissez-faire s’est développée au coup par coup, ce qui a empêché cette opposition de constituer une critique complète du laisser-faire. Ce problème s'est avéré inhiber leur capacité à maximiser leur intérêt personnel. En d'autres termes, ne pas empêcher les humains de se laisser aller à des tendances autodestructrices. En tant que solution, cette thèse postule que des parties du droit des contrats, de la responsabilité délictuelle et du droit fiduciaire reconnaissent déjà implicitement un principe sous-jacent de l’autre apparence. Ce principe fonctionne au même titre que le laissez-faire, offrant une protection contre l'irrationalité humaine qui protège l'intérêt personnel d'une manière qui serait impossible dans le cadre d'un pur laisser-faire. En fin de compte, le droit commercial privé pourrait mieux atteindre ses objectifs en reconnaissant un système de principes concurrents plutôt qu’une hégémonie.

Keywords: contract law
economic torts
fiduciary law
good faith
laissez-faire
other-regard
Advisor: Radin, Margaret J
Are We Losing Touch with the Charter? A Case Study of Loyola v. Quebec (Attorney General)

In Doré v. Barreau du Quebec (2012) and Loyola High School v. Quebec (Attorney General) (2015), the SCC sets aside the proportionality test for the judicial review of administrative decisions that implicate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This thesis provides a framework for critically assessing this approach (including its central premise, that the Charter does not apply in this context), and argues that, regardless of the standard of review (i.e., degree of deference), judicial review in this context should be conducted by reference to the Charter (as the criterion of review), using the proportionality test (as the form of review), emphasizing that attention to the state’s objectives (and the other steps of the proportionality test) provides a more transparent framework for reconciling competing interests in public law (a coherence function), while signaling when constraints on rights originate in a statutory-policy framework rather than its implementation (a signaling function).

Keywords: Administrative law
Charter
Dore
Judicial review
Loyola
Proportionality
Advisor: Weinrib, Lorraine E
Sex Differences in Hepatotoxic, Inflammatory and Proliferative Responses in Mouse Models of Liver Carcinogenesis

Liver cancer is the third most common cause of cancer-related death in humans and is 2-4 times more common in men than in women for reasons that are not clear. Chronic inflammation is a critical driving force for liver cancer and may play a role in the increased risk in men. Postnatal exposure of mice to liver procarcinogens like 4-aminobiphenyl (ABP) or diethylnitrosamine (DEN), or in genetically modified mice such as the hepatitis B virus transgenic (HBVTg) mouse, also produces more liver cancer in males than in females. Liver damage, inflammation and proliferation are central characteristics of liver cancer, and were previously found to be acutely higher in adult male mice than in females after high-dose exposure to DEN. However, postnatal exposure of mice to tumor-inducing doses of either ABP or DEN produces no acute response. It is not known whether sex differences may develop chronically after sexual maturation. We compared specific biomarkers of liver damage, inflammation and cell proliferation between male and female mice exposed to ABP or DEN postnatally, and in HBVTg mice, throughout the time period that mice are maintained in standard liver tumor studies. Postnatal exposure to ABP or DEN produced no chronic liver damage, inflammation or proliferation in either male or female mice. HBVTg mice had increased liver damage and proliferation and a modest increase in inflammation with age, but no sex difference. We show that chronic liver damage, inflammation and proliferation are not detectable in standard chemical-induced liver tumor induction models and are increased in HBVTg mice, but with no sex differences. Our results suggest that while chronic liver damage, inflammation and proliferation may be necessary for liver tumor development, they do not appear to be necessary contributors to the observed sex difference in liver tumor risk.

Keywords: Hepatotoxicity
Inflammation
Liver cancer
Mouse models
Procarcinogens
Sex differences
Advisor: Grant, Denis M.
Challenging Nozick: What Natural Property Rights?

Nozick is famous for his incendiary claim that “taxation is on par with forced labour.” Although Nozick’s views on distributive justice and property have been abundantly discussed, the vast majority of the literature focuses on these elements as if they were distinct. Taking seriously Nozick’s challenge, however, indicates that these dimensions are closely interrelated. This essay aims at bridging the current gap in the literature between property and taxation theory. In doing so, I put forward a challenge of my own: can Nozickians show that there is a natural right to property that would be binding prior to the advent of a convention? I believe they cannot. I argue that the most notarious contenders - Locke's labour-mixing argument, the self-ownership thesis, and Kant's freedom-based account of private property - cannot ground a natural right to private property. This, I argue, greatly threatens Nozick’s argument against the legitimacy of taxation.

Keywords: Natural right
Property right
Property theory
Advisor: Katz, Larissa L
Not Just Teaching: A Case Study of Catholic Education in Neo-Liberal Times

This inquiry is based on a case study in a Catholic secondary school in Ontario, Canada, from 2015 to 2017, focused on perceptions of the work of teachers, as well as understandings of their role and place in society. It highlights the beliefs of various stakeholders – teachers themselves, students, parents, the broader community – and the struggles related to these beliefs, regarding the work of teachers, at a time when elements of the neo-liberal agenda are increasingly at the forefront. Indeed, the main research question is: how do I better understand the place, work and impact of teachers in the tension between a morally-based ideology and the neo-liberal agenda? The qualitative case study is based on interviews and focus groups with over 30 participants related to an urban, diverse Catholic secondary school and works to illustrate the tension between the neo-liberal agenda and a social purpose that is more ethically- and morally-based, exemplified by publicly-funded Catholic education in Ontario. This inquiry includes elements of self-study and reflection: a personal analysis of the work of teachers in coming to understand how this work contributes to ‘the common good,’ represented throughout the dissertation through the counterpoint of researcher field notes and research journal entries with participant voices and emerging themes. The study’s theoretical foundations are based on the concept of the social contract which underpins its conceptual framework, centered on three inter-related component areas: the social contract between teachers and society; professionalism, the professionalization of teaching and teachers’ professional learning; and, the status of teachers. Key findings point to ethically- and morally-based teaching as open to possibilities and the good of all, in contrast to views of the work of teachers as technical, managerial and aligned to deterministic interpretations of the occupation, and society, which value more narrow perspectives of economic growth and market forces as preferred and inevitable. Those findings suggest that the work of teachers, and possibly all work, be undertaken with a view to ‘the common good,’ valuing the potential of all, as well as relationships, over more concrete, more easily measured, values, that prioritize subsistence over a fuller existence.

Keywords: Catholic
Neo-Liberal
Professionalism
Social Contract
Teachers
Vocation
Advisor: Rolheiser, Carol
Hybrid Zones and Hybrid Speciation in Amazonian Birds

Hybridization not only combines the genomes of parental populations but also plays a role in the generation of genetic diversity and the formation of new species. Most knowledge on hybridization in nature owes to studies at temperate latitudes, especially in birds, that use few genetic markers. My research is one of the first studies to focus on hybridization in Amazonian birds that uses a next generation sequencing approach sampling broadly across the genome. I provide the first report of a bird species of hybrid origin in the tropics, the manakin L. vilasboasi. The genetic composition of L. vilasboasi consists of contributions from L. iris and L. nattereri. Currently, L. vilasboasi is not interbreeding with either parental species. Some components of the crown feather nanostructure in L. vilasboasi are intermediate between the parental species and may be partially responsible for its distinctive yellow crown, a trait likely to drive prezygotic reproductive isolation. I provide one of the first genomic assessments of the phylogeography and patterns of admixture for an avian species complex ocurring in Amazonian flooded forests. My data support four genetically divergent lineages, each showing phenotypic differentiation in plumage colouration. These four lineages hybridize extensively, resulting in clinally structured hybrid zones between several lineages , while large parts of western Amazonia is comprised of a non-clinal hybrid swarm between three of the four lineages. Given the prevalence of genetic admixture, it is uncertain if all four lineages will remain genetically distinctive. I performed analyses of geographic clines which suggest that hybridization is eroding the genetic differentiation between two of these lineages. It is likely that the final outcome will be the eventual extinction of one the parental species. In sum my thesis shows the evolutionary significance of hybridization by creating new species, shaping phylogeographical patterns or driving the collapse of incipient species. The outcome of hybridization is dependent on the strength of reproductive isolation and how the combined parental genotypes interact, and these are influenced by stochastic and deterministic factors.

Keywords: Amazon
birds
hybrid speciation
hybrid zones
Advisor: Weir, Jason T