PUB2 101D1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Audi Alteram Partem, Natural Justice, Procedural Justice

• School: McGill University
• Department: Public Law 2
• Course: PUB2 101D1
• Professor: Mark Walters

Document Summary

The principles of fundamental justice: section 7 of the charter. At a minimum the requirements of natural justice. When life, liberty, or security of the person is at stake section 7 provides procedural and substantive protection. Procedural guarantees are concerned with the fairness of how a decision is made; I wrote this speech some three months before the recent events in new york and washington. They are a reminder that in matters of national security, the cost of failure can be high. It is not only that the executive has access to special information and expertise in these matters. It is also that such decisions, with serious potential results for the community, require a legitimacy which can be conferred only by entrusting them to persons responsible to the community through the democratic process. If the people are to accept the consequences of such decisions, they must be made by persons whom the people have elected and whom they can remove.