Assistant professor Dr. Lorne Neudorf is joining lawyers, judges and legal scholars from around the world at the 2016 conference of the International Society of Public Law in Berlin, Germany on June 16-17.
Neudorf was selected to present his paper “Taking Comparative Law Seriously: Rethinking the Supreme Court of Canada’s Modern Approach to Statutory Interpretation,” which examines when, how and why the Supreme Court of Canada uses foreign law in deciding its cases, particularly in cases where it interprets legislation.
“It’s really interesting that the SCC occasionally looks at what foreign courts are doing in deciding questions of Canadian law. Often, these will be American, Australian or English cases,” said Neudorf, adding in the US, such a practice is highly controversial.
Neudorf’s research, supported by an internal research grant, looked at five years of SCC cases to gain a better understanding of how Canadian judges are incorporating foreign law. His goal is to be able to offer a critique that would encourage a more principled approach to the use of foreign law.
Neudorf will also be chairing a conference panel on comparing laws and institutions.
Listen to Dr. Neudorf’s interview on RadioNL:
