Limitations on Rights' in a Constitutional Democracy: Models of Judicial Review under Canada's Charter

• Author: Lorraine Eisenstat Weinrib
• Position: Associate Professor of Law and Political Science, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, Canada
• Pages: 428-458

“L im ita tio ns on Rights” in a Constitu tional De mocracy:

Mo dels o f Ju dic ial Re view u nde r C anada's C h a r te r

Lor rai ne Eisenstat Weinrib*

I. Introdu ctio n

II. Inte rpre tive Development: Institutional Ro le under C anad a’s

Ch art er

III. Ma joritarian De moc racy

IV. An A lternativ e M odel: The Suprem acy o f Rig hts Pro tec tion

V. The O akes Doctrine and the Oakes T est within t he Su preme

Law Model

VI. The Model o f C onstitutio nal Democ racy emb edded in Israel's

new B asi c L aw s

VII. Th e Mo del of Co nstituti onal Democra cy em bed ded in the

Sou th African C onstitu tion

VIII. Conclusio n

Asso ciate Professor of Law and Political Scie nce, Fa culty o f Law, U niversity

o f Toronto* Canada

428

Models of Judicial Review 429

I. Introdu ctio n

The limitation clauses adopted in the tw o new Isra eli B asic Laws'

and in the new South African Constitution2, evo ke memo ries of

Ca nad a's long de bate on the plac e o f rights protection in a

con stitutio nal democracy hith erto based on legislativ e supremacy.

Th at de bate c ulm inated in the text o f s. 1 of the Canadia n Charter

o f R ights and Freedom s, 1982, which both gu arantees and justifie s

lim itation upon the C ha rter’s rights and free doms;

The Cana dian Char ter o f Rights and Free dom s guarant ees the

rights and freedom s set out in it subject only to suc h reas onable

limits prescribe d by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free

and democ ratic society.

At the core o f the Ca nadian debate was the issue o f judicial

review; on what basis could unelected and politically unac coun table

jud ges articulate the scope o f and lim itations upon guaranteed rights?

The dramatic turns in the interpretive history of s. 1 in the Canadian

courts in just fifteen years, which are th e s ubject o f this Essay , m ake

clear that th e Canad ian debate did not end with the adoption, after

many efforts, o f the narrowest and most principled version amon g the

limitation clauses considered. The controversy merely shifted from

theo ries o f con stitu tion al design to constitutional interpretation.

This Essay analyses the two m odels o f judicial revie w implic it in

the d ivergent app roac hes to limitatio n on rights under Canada's

Charter. The first model, which gives pre-eminence to ma joritarian

For teMt and discussi on, s ee part VI. infra.

For text and discus sion* see part VII* in f ro