Item – Theses Canada

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OCLC number
1006984852
Link(s) to full text
LAC copy
LAC copy
Author
Gallagher-Mackay, Kelly.
Title
Rule of law and Aboriginal government : the case of Nunavut.
Degree
L.L.M. -- York University, 2000
Publisher
Ottawa : National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, [2001]
Description
3 microfiches
Notes
Includes bibliographical references.
Abstract
The juxtaposition of the Rule of Law with Aboriginal government raises the question of the permeability--or lack of it--of western legal institutions to demands originating outside the 'mainstream' system. Three studies indicate wide scope for study of the role of western legal institutions in the context of Aboriginal government. United by a common concern with the limits of the rule of law, local context and specific histories are a springboard to critical re-evaluation of common debates in mainstream law, including administrative, constitutional and equality law. Rule of law is associated with alien, positivistic, and statist assumptions which pervade our basic understanding of legality and government. Institutional arrangements of nineteeth-century Europe, explicitly accepted as contemporary blueprints are 'alien'. Law is 'positivist' to the extent it relies on a claim to authority emanating outside a position of engagement in complex social struggles. Finally, it is 'statist ' in acceptance of 'one' official potentially universal legal system. In practice, I predict that even within structures explicitly designed to increase Aboriginal control, these assumptions will have a narrowing effect on options for self-rule. Three case studies--current issues in Nunavut's emerging governance--illustrate the hypothesis. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
ISBN
0612561755
9780612561755