Restraint of Power

Philip Selznick The one to develop a standard to asses the quality of a country’s laws. He was a professor at the faculty of law at Stanford University. Was on of the founding directors of The Centre for the Study of Law and Society.

Concept of Restraint of Power He argued that the essence of a law did not lie in “the exercise of power and control, but in the predictable restraint on those using that power” By his standard to asses the quality of a country’s laws there must be an independent branch of government or body to be able to review, challenge or limit the laws made by the ruling government.

He would argue that the only reason a dictator is so powerful is because there is no one else in the country to challenge his power By his standard of judgment the quality of law in a dictatorship is very low because there is no independent body of government to be able to review, challenge, or limit the dictator’s laws. Example: Fidel Castro is the dictator of Cuba. -Under Selznick’s standard the quality of law here would not be very good.

Canada Canada has had the restraint of government power even before the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was passed. Canadian citizens go to court to challenge the government’s laws when they feel their legal rights have been violated

Roncarelli vs. Duplessis Roncarelli posted bail for 400 Jehovah’s Witnesses before Quebec Premier could order the QLC to cancel the liquor license for Roncarelli’s restaurant. Roncarelli sued Duplessis for damages and was awarded $ by the Superior Court of Quebec. The Quebec Court of Appeal overturned that judgment, so Roncarelli took the case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeal’s judgment. The court found the premier’s action to be a “gross abuse of legal power” VS