The Canadian Department of Justice and the Completion of Confederation, 1867-78

The Department of Justice began as part of the Conservative programme to reform the parliamentary system after Confederation. This study explores how expectations inside and outside the legal system created an environment in which the Department was essentially the government's advisor. The author considers the growth and development of the ostensibly apolitical Department of Justice in the eleven years after the union of 1867. Drawing on legal records and other archival documents, he details the complex interactions between law and politics, exploring how expectations both inside and outside the legal system created an environment in which the department acted as an advisor to the government. He concludes by considering the post-1878 legacy of the department's approach to governance, wherein any problem, legal or otherwise, was made amenable to politicized solutions. Unfortunately for the department and the federal government, this left them ill-prepared for the constitutional battles to come. Chapter 4 examines the application of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy in cases involving pardon, remission, and death penalty commutations. Chapter 5 outlines the early history of the Canadian prison system, including the introduction of the first Penitentiary Acts, the roles of the Minister of Justice and the Inspector of in providing management and oversight, and the conflicting theories current on the role of the prison, and the rehabilitation of prisoners MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 1 Introduction 12 2 An Apolitical Advisor: The Fiction of the Attorney General 28 3 The Department of Justice and the Business of Governance 45 4 Advisors to the Crown and the Prerogative of Mercy 65 5 Canadian Penitentiaries and the Rhetoric of Nation, Centralization, and Reform 88 6 The Department of Justice and the Judiciary 107 7 Conclusion 132 Notes 142 Selected Bibliography 164 Index 170 A 170 B 170 C 171 D 171 E 172 F 172 G 172 H 172 I 172 J 172 K 173 L 173 M 173 N 174 O 174 P 174 Q 175 R 175 S 175 T 175 U 175 V 175 W 176 Y 176 "Jonathan Swainger considers the growth and development of the ostensibly apolitical Department of Justice in the eleven years after the union of 1867. Drawing on legal records and other archival documents, he details the complex interactions between law and politics, exploring how expectations both inside and outside the legal system created an environment in which the department acted as an advisor to the government. He concludes by considering the post-1878 legacy of the department's approach to governance, wherein any problem, legal or otherwise, was made amenable to politicized solutions." "The Canadian Department of Justice and the Completion of Confederation will be of particular interest to students and scholars of Canadian legal and political history."--BOOK JACKET. Drawing on legal records and other archival documents, Jonathan Swainger considers the growth and development of the ostensibly apolitical Department of Justice in the eleven years after the union of 1867. Jonathan Swainger. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [155]-160) And Index.