Abstract
Observed from the perspective of citation of foreign judgments, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) is often considered one of the world’s most cosmopolitan and proactive actors in transnational judicial conversation. However, there are also other forms of non-domestic legal sources that Courts engage with, such as: foreign law, international case law, and international treaties. Hence, the ‘globalist’ or ‘localist’ approach of a court cannot be assessed without looking from this broader perspective. By examining all the 1223 judgments issued by the SCC over 17 years (2000–2016), this study offers a comprehensive picture of citations of all forms of non-domestic legal sources. Remarkably, the empirical data show that the Court has extensively engaged with all forms of non-domestic legal sources, and cites such foreign authorities in approximately 50 different fields of law. This article is distinct in that it combines two different perspectives when analyzing the data: the <em>SCC as an institution</em> and its <em>individual judges</em>. From an institutional perspective, such all-inclusive records demonstrate that foreign citation is decreasing, a trend which may jeopardize the high prestige of the SCC in the global arena. Similar trend is noticeable when the data is analyzed also from an individual-judge perspective. In providing an empirical picture of individual judges’ engagement with non-domestic legal sources, this Article attempts to categorize the 21 justices that have served in the SCC during the 17-year timeframe into three groups: ‘high globalist judges’, ‘moderate globalist judges’, and ‘localist judges’. The article ends with few remarks regarding whether this is a <em>judicial slowbalization</em> of the Court.
Highlights
We live in the era of modern globalization, a development that is both dynamic and highly controversial; it engages many actors, factors, and mechanisms, and appears in various fields and forms
One of the main purposes of this paper is to offer to the existing scholarship comprehensive and empirical quantitative data that includes within the same ‘picture’ all forms of non-domestic legal sources used by this Court
The key methodological instrument that was used to uncover the quantity of non-domestic legal sources cited by the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) in all its 1223 judgments issued by the SCC over the 17 years (2000–2016), is the web-based research
Summary
We live in the era of modern globalization, a development that is both dynamic and highly controversial; it engages many actors, factors, and mechanisms, and appears in various fields and forms. Some studies focus only on one or few fields of law (mainly constitutional);[13] most consider only the citation of comparative case law of one particular foreign jurisdiction (US or UK);[14] others focus solely on international courts or the use of international law;[15] and most the literature regards the Court as a whole.[16] one of the main purposes of this paper is to offer to the existing scholarship comprehensive and empirical quantitative data that includes within the same ‘picture’ all forms of non-domestic legal sources used by this Court This broader perspective is key for assessing the ‘globalist’ or ‘localist’ approach of a court and its genuine place in the judicial global network. The Statute of International Court of Justice art. 38/1 § a–d, T.S. 993 [date of entry into force 24 Oct 1945]
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