Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Arguments in Canadian Inter-Partner Family Law Court Disputes

Abstract

This article addresses the phenomenon of Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Arguments (OPCA) from the lens of inter-partner disputes. The author begins by briefly reviewing the history of OPCA in Canada, and then proceeds to conduct a Canada-wide survey of OPCA judgments that involve inter-spouse conflict. One of the primary cases focused on is the Alberta judgment, Meads v. Meads. The author finds that there are few OPCA judgments to draw from, which he concludes is a result of the character of OPCA pseudolegal concepts. These concepts are typically intended to target government and institutional actors, rather than private individuals, meaning that these arguments are ill suited to family law situations.