Course Descriptions
LAWS 2099 The Legal Profession and Professional Responsibility
CREDIT HOURS: 2
This required course examines various aspects of the nature and organization of the legal profession in Canada, including its history and evolution, the legal and ethical responsibilities of lawyers and the influences of the adversary system on the pursuit of justice. In particular, the course covers specific ethical rules which affect all lawyers in their practices and also the wider public protection issues which face the organized legal profession. Serious attention will be given to dilemmas facing lawyers and the legal profession today.
LAWS 2103 Jessup Moot
CREDIT HOURS: 4
The Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition gives law students the opportunity to argue a hypothetical case involving international law. The experience affords both training in advocacy and understanding of the international legal system. Competitions are held annually in approximately 80 countries, and winners of those competitions compete in international finals. The Canadian regional round of the competition is a national mooting competition for Canadian law students and the majority of the law schools across the country usually participate. The moot problem always contains issues redolent of a topical international affair. The Jessup Moot is sponsored by the International Law Students Association, based in Washington, D.C. Philip C. Jessup, for whom the competition is named, was one of America's most respected jurists on the International Court of Justice. Work on the competition begins in September and proceeds up to the Canadian regional round, which is held in February or March. Each team is judged on its memorials, or written arguments, and on its oral presentation. Each team must prepare a memorial for each side and must argue the case six (6) times, three times for each side. A panel of experienced judges, commonly including justices from across Canada, scores the oral presentations. Jessup Moot team members will be expected to complete the requirements of the Canadian national competition to earn academic credit. SELECTION: By an application process, possibly involving a mock oral argument, in Winter term of second year, for team participation in third year. Prior completion of an International Law course is strongly recommended. Please note: students may take only one competitive moot during their degree.
NOTES: Assessment Method: Performance on the Jessup team. Participation in the class satisfies the major paper writing requirement, if the student wishes to count the moot as a major paper.
LAWS 2104 Environmental Law I
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Environmental laws in support of sustainable development are explored through nine class themes. The international law context for environmental law is briefly introduced, including the principles of precaution, polluter pays and public participation. The role of common law in preventing and redressing environmental degradation is considered. Constitutional realities and restrictions to environmental management are examined. The traditional command-control approach to environmental regulation is critiqued and alternate approaches are introduced. Environmental impact assessment law and practice is covered. The course concludes with a number of more specific themes, such as enforcement, judicial review, biodiversity and climate change.
NOTES: Assessment Method: Assignments and final exam
LAWS 2106 Taxation of Corporations
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course covers several topics in relation to the taxation ofcorporations and their shareholders under the Income Tax Act. The emphasis is on reading and understanding the statutory language as construed by thecourts, as well as analyzing the policies and principles that animate thelegislation. The initial part of the course addresses the taxation ofcorporate income, with topics including: rationales for corporate taxation, corporate residence, Canadian-controlled private corporation status, active business income, and investment income. The next part of the course deals with the taxation of shareholder distributions, including dividends and shareholder benefits. Subsequent classes focus on tax-deferred corporate reorganizations. Finally, the course surveys the tax aspects of buying and selling a corporate business. At various points in the course the rules regarding corporations are compared to those concerning partnerships and income trusts. The aim is to give students a strong foundation for future practice or research in corporate tax law.RECOMMENDED: Business Associations is highly recommended but not required.
NOTES: Assessment Method: Written examination that may be open or closed-book or a series of assignments plus a class participation component.
PREREQUISITES: Taxation I
LAWS 2107 Gale Cup Moot Court Competition
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course is a high level mooting competition among all law schools in Canada, and is held in late February at Osgoode Hall in Toronto. The course requires individual and collective work on a moot case in an area of domestic law, usually criminal law. Extensive research, the writing of a factum, the preparation of argument, performance in mooting trials at Dalhousie and final presentation of the case in Toronto are all involved. The course will include exposure to appellate advocacy techniques and instruction therein together with simulations before practicing lawyers. Evaluation is by the faculty advisor, although the Gale Cup judges will also likely provide comment and grading at the actual competition. Students should be aware that preparation for the Moot or the Moot itself may interfere with travel plans during Reading Week. This course is limited to 4 third year students. Eligibility for the course is determined by the Moot Court Committee based on performance in the second year qualifying moots.
NOTES: Assessment Method: Numerical and a letter grade evaluation for moot performance. Participation in the class satisfies the major paper writing requirement, if the student wishes to count the moot as a major paper.
Please note: students may take only one competitive moot during their degree.
LAWS 2110 Family Law
CREDIT HOURS: 4
The course considers both substantive and procedural aspects of family law, with an emphasis upon settlement and consensual dispute resolution. After the usual basics of constitutional jurisdiction and family courts , the course works through family law topics in the sequence they are usually resolved between spouses, partners or parents: family violence; separation; domestic contracts; divorce; custody, access and parenting; property division; child support; and spousal support. The last part of the course explores the role of the state in adoption and child protection.
NOTES: Assessment Method: Closed book final examination, with optional assignments
LAWS 2112 Advanced Issues in Family Law
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This is a limited enrolment seminar intended to allow students to explore in detail areas involving financial and other advanced issues in Family Law. Topics covered will vary from year to year, including: theories of child support and the Child Support Guidelines; the interaction of child support and parental misconduct; hard child support issues like shared custody, adult children and s. 7 expenses; income determination; theories of spousal support entitlement; advanced use of the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines; proposals for changes to the Matrimonial Property Act; property and support issues for common-law couples; valuation issues; tax problems; pensions; domestic violence; parental relocation with children; and more. Classes will use problems and discussion to explore these issues. Students are encouraged to take inter-disciplinary and comparative approaches to the issues, in discussions and in their papers.
NOTES: Assessment Method: By major paper and class participation.
FORMAT COMMENTS: 2 hours per week, 3 credits
PREREQUISITES: Family Law I
LAWS 2113 Alternative Dispute Resolution
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This seminar course will provide students with an opportunity to learn about and develop conflict management skills. The course will provide students with an opportunity to consider the theory and practice of various dispute resolution techniques, such as negotiation, mediation and arbitration. The course will involve skills development exercises and discussion of topical readings on the subject of dispute resolution processes.
NOTES: Assessment Method: Based on a combination of written assignments and class participation.
LAWS 2115 Health Care Ethics and the Law
CREDIT HOURS: 3
The purpose of this course is to develop an understanding of health law and healthcare ethics and the relationship between law and ethics. Topics vary by the year but those covered in past years include stem cell research, state intervention in the lives of pregnant women, HIV/AIDS and the duty to disclose, intersex surgery, pluralism and multiculturalism in healthcare, resource allocation, and death and dying. Each issue is examined in an effort to determine what the law is and what the law ought to be.
NOTES: Assessment Method: Major research paper and exercises. This course may be counted towards a Certificate in Environmental Law.
LAWS 2117 Education Law
CREDIT HOURS: 3
The purposes of the course include assessing the relation between law and government policy; breaking down the barriers between different disciplines; evaluating the impact of the Charter in a discrete setting and considering the links between law and values in Canadian society. The course will be offered in seminar form with discussion as the norm. There may be some guest lecturers and student presentations. The course will be broad in scope and useful to students who do not intend to directly pursue a career related to education, as well as those who do. Without limiting the instructor, the kinds of topics which might be covered include the following: judicializing education, jurisdiction over schools, the impact of the Charter , discipline and enforcing rules, schools as microcosms of society; and the limits of rights discourse. The impact of the Charter equality provisions on the field of education will also be an important theme. While there will be a high profile Charter component to the course, there will also be an examination of administrative law issues, collective bargaining concerns, negligence and denominational school structures. There will be specifically assigned readings for each course and general course materials.
NOTES: Assessment Method: This is a seminar class evaluated primarily by major paper.
LAWS 2120 Aboriginal Peoples and the Law
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course will examine the legal position of Aboriginal peoples within Canada. The objective of the course is to engage with the unique legal and policy issues which must be understood and addressed to effectively work in the area of Aboriginal Law. Course materials will engage jurisprudence and legislation within the broader nexus of Colonial history, aboriginal conditions and culture, and government programs and policies. Particular topics may include sources of law, unique constitutional provisions, the special position of Indian reserves, the nature of aboriginal title and rights, Indian treaties, fiduciary obligations, taxation, and self-government/self determination.
NOTES: Assessment Method: A combination of major paper, class assignments and class participation.
LAWS 2121 Wills and Estates
CREDIT HOURS: 2
This course provides an opportunity to consider current legal issues involving wills, distribution of assets, and probate of estates, with a practical focus. In addition to the common law, we will consider Nova Scotia legislation including the Wills Act, Intestate Succession Act, Probate Act, Testators’ Family Maintenance Act and Matrimonial Property Act, as well as the Code of Professional Conduct. Topics to be discussed include the formalities of execution, substantive challenges to wills such as testamentary capacity and undue influence, construction and administration of wills, problems relating to mistake, lapse and ademption, conjugal matters, vesting and class gifts as well as dying without a will.
NOTES: Assessment Method: Final examination.
LAWS 2123 Canadian Legal History
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This is a survey course in the history of Canadian law from the time of the First Nations to the present. The successive reception of aboriginal law, French civil law and English common law will be discussed, as well as the later influence of U.S. law. We will explore the general characteristics of the legal regimes of British North America before and after responsible government, the impact of Confederation, and the response of the Canadian legal order to industrialization, social reform, urbanization, the two World Wars, immigration and technological change. Emphasis will be put on the development of Canadian legal institutions, the legal profession, legal thought and selected areas of substantive law. Throughout we will consider the evolution of Canadian legal culture.
NOTES: Assessment Method: Major paper (80%) and class participation (20%) (3 credit hours)
LAWS 2125 Law of Marine Environmental Protection
CREDIT HOURS: 3
Protection of the marine environment was one of the earliest and most extensive areas of development in international environmental law. The transboundary nature of the issues and dramatic public impact of marine pollution incidents have contributed to a dramatic growth in the number and scope of legal instruments aimed at regulating uses and resources of the marine environment. The objective of this course is to provide an understanding of the development and current state of law dealing with protection of the marine environment. The examination will proceed initially from the international level, but will focus on the implementation (or non-implementation) of these principles in Canadian law. The specific topics covered in the seminar will vary from year to year depending on current issues and student research interests. For more information on current topics, please consult the course instructor.
NOTES: Assessment Method: Major paper, class participation and presentation.
LAWS 2127 Mental Disability Law: Civil
CREDIT HOURS: 2
This seminar concentrates on issues involving those who are described as having a mental health problem or an intellectual disability. The course surveys many central topics, including the history and conceptualization of mental disorder, international human rights law, substantive and constitutional aspects of involuntary civil commitment, the legal response to alleged incompetence, the right to treatment and to refuse treatment, misuses of power and remedies and advocacy services. Students are encouraged to develop their understanding of the rules and policies of the legal system and to heighten their awareness of this form of inequality and discrimination.
NOTE: Course Details listed here also apply to
LAWS 2128.
NOTES: Assessment Method: Term assignments for (
LAWS 2127, 2 credit hours) or major paper for (
LAWS 2128, 3 credit hours); a class presentation and class participation are also required for each student. Please note: registration processes and wait lists are set up separately for each of the 2-credit and 3-credit options.
LAWS 2128 Mental Disability Law: Civil
CREDIT HOURS: 3
See
LAWS 2127.
LAWS 2129 Corporate Transactions
CREDIT HOURS: 3
The purpose of this course is to provide exposure to the structure of, and the legal issues involved with several types of transactions in which corporations will typically engage. Course lectures will introduce and provide background on the specifics of typical corporate transactions and the responsibilities of the lawyer involved. Students will then apply the content of the lectures in group assignments meant to simulate a typical corporate transaction and the negotiation between opposing counsel on both sides of the transaction. Examples of corporate transactions that might be explored include financing agreements, purchase and sale of a business, amalgamations, and franchise agreements.
NOTES: Assessment Method: Assignments and Quiz (80%), Class Participation (20%). This class does not meet the major paper requirement.
PREREQUISITES: Business Associations
RESTRICTIONS: This class is open to third year students only. Student cannot take both Information Technology Transactions and Corporate Transactions.
LAWS 2132 Health Law
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course surveys critical issues and contemporary debates in the health law field. Topics may include: health systems, health professions, medical negligence, informed decision-making, health information, reproduction, public health, mental health, death and dying, health technologies, public health and the health of indigenous peoples.
NOTES: Assessment Method: Examination
LAWS 2133 Climate Change Law and Policy
CREDIT HOURS: 3
This course takes an in depth interdisciplinary look at one of our greatest global environmental challenges, climate change. Climate change is used as a case study to explore the role of law in addressing such challenges. Current law and policy approaches to climate change are considered at global, regional, national and sub-national levels. Within this context, students will consider the role of science and economics among other disciplines in identifying the role of law.RECOMMENDED but not required: Environmental Law I or International Law.
NOTES: Assessment Method: Major paper 70%, class participation 30%
LAWS 2135 Court of Appeal Placement
CREDIT HOURS: 3
The justices of the Court of Appeal have agreed to have two students in the fall term and two students in the winter term serve as student researchers. Students will take part in the work of the Court of Appeal, assisting with research and reviewing appeal books and factums as requested. Students will be required to spend nine hours per week on this court work. Third year students with very good academic standing will be invited to apply for this clerkship.
NOTES: This course does not fulfil the major paper requirement
Assessment Method: Based on satisfactory completion of assigned tasks including an assessment of any written work e.g. memoranda provided to the Court. Evaluation shall be on the basis of consultation between the Faculty Supervisor and the Chief Justice of Nova Scotia and/or the Chair of the Clerks Committee.