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Law Indigenous Peoples

Flawed Precedent

The St. Catherine’s Case and Aboriginal Title

by (author) Kent McNeil

Publisher
UBC Press
Initial publish date
Jun 2019
Category
Indigenous Peoples, Legal History, Constitutional
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780774861069
    Publish Date
    Jun 2019
    List Price
    $27.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780774861052
    Publish Date
    Jun 2019
    List Price
    $75.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780774861083
    Publish Date
    Jun 2019
    List Price
    $125.00

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Description

In 1888, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled in the St. Catherine’s case. This precedent-setting decision would define the legal contours of Aboriginal title in Canada for almost a hundred years. In Flawed Precedent, preeminent legal scholar Kent McNeil examines the trial and its context in detail, demonstrating how erroneous assumptions and prejudicial attitudes about Indigenous peoples and their land use influenced the case. He also discusses the effects the decision had on law and policy until the 1970s when its authority was finally questioned in Calder and in other key rulings. McNeil has written a compelling account of a landmark case that undermined Indigenous land rights for almost a century.

About the author

Kent McNeil is an emeritus distinguished research professor at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University.

Kent McNeil's profile page

Awards

  • Short-listed, Canada Prize in the Humanities and Social Sciences, Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
  • Winner, John T. Saywell Prize for Canadian Constitutional Legal History, The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History

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