Overview

Despite the Supreme Court of Canada’s crucial role in the country’s legal system, many Canadians are in the dark about the inner workings of this institution. In Governing from the Bench, Emmett Macfarlane draws on interviews with current and former justices, former law clerks, and other staff members of the court to shed light on the institution’s internal environment and decision-making processes. Challenging dominant theoretical and methodological approaches that fail to examine individual or structural forces that affect the court’s decisions, he explores the complex role of the Supreme Court as an institution; exposes the rules, conventions, and norms that shape and constrain its justices’ behaviour; and situates the court in its wider governmental and societal context. At once enlightening and engaging, Governing from the Bench is a much-needed and comprehensive exploration of an institution that touches the lives of all Canadians.

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9780774823500

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Reviews

Macfarlane has made an original foray into the intricacies of Supreme Court decision making. Governing from the Bench has gone to considerable lengths towards opening the Supreme Court's black box, and in doing so has brought historical institutionalism into the mainstream of the study of Canadian law and politics. I highly recommend it. -- Dave Snow, University of Calgary Canadian Journal of Political Science

Providing fresh material -- including interviews with justices and law clerks -- within a role-based framework, Emmett Macfarlane paints a very clear picture of the Supreme Court as an institution. - Lawrence Baum, Professor of Political Science at Ohio State University

Author Information

Emmett Macfarlane is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo.

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