Canadian Administrative Law

Administrative law is the body of law regulating the ways in which government operates. It is about the rules and limits that apply to not only the operations of the Crown, Cabinets, Ministers, government departments, and municipal corporations but also the various administrative tribunals and agencies deployed by governments for the carrying out of governmental functions of all kinds. It is concerned with the procedures by which all these various instruments of government operate, the jurisdictional and substantive limits on their mandates, and the remedial structures that exist to ensure that decision-makers of various kinds act in accordance with the rule of law. As well, throughout the course, students are encouraged to reflect upon the divide between public law and private law and, in particular, the circumstances under which governmental authorities of various kinds or in various capacities are subject not to the special regime of administrative law principles and remedies but to the private law rules of contract, tort, restitution and the like.