LAWS 3504 Lecture 8: Lecture 8 Rule of Law
Document Summary
Lecture 8 rule of law and aboriginal peoples. Rule of law has a place in treaties, in aboriginal rights it underlies everything. The concept gets tossed around in popular media without understanding what it really means. Also a topic idea for the paper. The rule of law is one of the underlying or unwritten principles of the canadian constitution. The law is supreme over the acts of both government and private persons. The relationship between the state and the individual must be regulated by law. (quebec secession reference) The law being supreme means that there is the concept of fairness. If it applies to me, it applies to everyone. Law has to be written, accessible, recorded, knowable, and facilitates legal procedures for the people. Protects us form arbitrary state power: all interactions between indigenous peoples and the state have to be governed by law and not discretionary. Constitutionalism is the supreme source of law that we rely upon.