The ''McGill Law Journal'' is a student-run legal publication at

McGill University Faculty of Law The Faculty of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the oldest law school in Canada, and continually ranks among the best law schools in the world. The faculty is known for it ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

. It is a not-for-profit corporation independent of the Faculty and it is managed exclusively by students. The ''Journal'' also publishes the ''

Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation The ''Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation'' (''McGill Guide'' or ''Red Book''; french: Manuel canadien de la référence juridique) is a legal citation guide in Canada. It is published by the ''McGill Law Journal'' of the McGill University ...

'' and a series of podcasts since 2012. A 2022 study assessing the most cited Law Review articles in the history of the Supreme Court of Canada found that the McGill Law Journal was one of a select few elite law journals in Canada and the McGill Law Journal was by far the most cited by the Supreme Court of Canada with 150 citations, with the second and third place consisting of 100 and 86 citations, respectively.

Overview

Since the 1970s, the ''McGill Law Journal'' has been cited more often by the Supreme Court of Canada than any other university-affiliated law journal in the world. ''Journal'' subscribers reside in more than twenty-five countries. Following the faculty's policy of bilingualism, the ''McGill Law Journal'' is published in both French and English. The editorial team is therefore composed of both French- and English-speaking students who select and edit articles written in both languages. The ''Journal'' publishes texts dealing with different topics in civil law,

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

, and Indigenous legal traditions. A member of the legal community wishing to have his or her article published in the ''Journal'' can make a submission through the ''McGill Law Journal'' website.

History

The ''McGill Law Journal'' was founded in 1952 by Gérald Éric Le Dain and

Jacques-Yvan Morin Jacques-Yvan Morin, (born July 15, 1931 in Quebec City, Quebec) is a former professor of law and a politician in Quebec, Canada. Morin graduated from the McGill University Faculty of Law with a BCL in 1953, where he was the founder of the '' McG ...

, two students at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

’s Faculty of Law. The ''Journal'' was the third entirely student-run journal to appear in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The first issue was edited by the founding editor in chief,

. From its inception, the ''Journal'' has promoted the development of legal research, attracting a readership of law professors, lawyers, and students. The goal of its founders was to create a forum for intellectual exchange for

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

's legal community. Because the province is at the crossroads of the two great private law traditions of the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

, civil law and

, the first editors of the ''Journal'' immediately recognized its potential as a tool for the development of civil law doctrine in English and in French. Since it published its first volume in 1952, the ''McGill Law Journal'' has built its reputation over the years as a renowned legal source. Today, the ''Journal'' is as renowned internationally as it is in

. Not only does the ''Journal'' produce high-quality publications for jurists and legal professionals, but it also enables its editors to learn and perfect important skills for their legal careers.

Reputation

The McGill Law Review was the first law journal in Canada to be cited by the Supreme Court of Canada and has since been cited by the Supreme Court in 150 cases. In 2010, the Faculty of Law at

Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexington ...

gave the ''McGill Law Journal'' the award for best student-run legal journal in the world outside the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The Australian Research Council (ARC) ranked the McGill Law Journal among the best English-language law journals in the world giving it an A* rating, giving it a rating shared by only 62 law reviews globally out of 1,265 law journals.

Other Publications and Events

''Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation''

The first ''

'' was published by the editors of the ''McGill Law Journal'' in 1986. To date, the ''

Guide A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom. Travel and recreation Ex ...

'' is in its ninth edition. With the help of members of the legal community—lawyers, judges, librarians, and professors—the ''

'' evolves with the legal profession. A new edition of the ''

'' is published every four years. The ''

'' provides guidelines on how to build a bibliography and how to reference sources ranging from statutes and case law to Indigenous treaties and

Talmudic law Talmudic law is the law that is derived from the Talmud based on the teachings of the Talmudic Sages. * See Talmud or Talmudical Hermeneutics Talmudical hermeneutics (Hebrew: מידות שהתורה נדרשת בהן) defines the rules and metho ...

. The ''

'' is a reference standard for many courts and Canadian legal journals. The ''

'' can be purchased online through the ''McGill Law Journal'' website.

Podcasts

In 2012, the ''McGill Law Journal'' started publishing a series of podcasts exploring different aspects of

Canadian law The legal system of Canada is pluralist: its foundations lie in the English common law system (inherited from its period as a colony of the British Empire), the French civil law system (inherited from its French Empire past), and Indigenous ...

, the first Canadian law journal to do so. In the podcast, leading academics, practicing lawyers, or other member of the legal community shed light on contemporary legal issues in conversation with members of the ''McGill Law Journal''. Recent episodes published by the ''Journal'' cover topics such as the legal aspects of

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

, the debate over the notwithstanding clause in Quebec's ''Act Respecting the Laicity of the State'', and the use of

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...

in the legal field. By examining the legal dimensions of contentious issues, the podcast aims to share legal knowledge and expertise with members of the legal community and of the public.

Special Issues

Special issues of the ''McGill Law Journal'', which are published about once per volume, are the ''Journal''’s way of sharing legal information on a specific issue to a wider audience. Once a topic is chosen, the ''Journal'' invites internationally renowned specialists to write about it. Topics ranging from international human rights, contemporary

Canadian constitutional law Canadian constitutional law () is the area of Canadian law relating to the interpretation and application of the Constitution of Canada by the courts. All laws of Canada, both provincial and federal, must conform to the Constitution and any laws i ...

, and reform of the Russian ''Civil Code'' have all been selected for special issues. Other topics have included international dispute resolution, the legacy of ''Roncarelli v''. ''Duplessis'', technological innovations and civil liability, and legal pluralism in

Indigenous communities Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

. For just one example of how impactful these special issues can be, take the issue published by Volume 45 on genetics and the law. The issue was noticed by the Canadian ''National Judicial Institute'' and was used at a conference in June 2000. Copies were distributed to and read by more than fifty Canadian and American judges.

Events organized by the McGill Law Journal

The ''McGill Law Journal'' organizes several events throughout the year attended by the

McGill McGill is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin, from which the names of many places and organizations are derived. It may refer to: People * McGill (surname) (including a list of individuals with the surname) * McGill family (Monrovia), a promin ...

community and members of the public. These events are designed to promote student involvement and academic research while allowing the ''Journal'' to attract high-quality submissions from legal scholars. Each year, an English-language conference and a French-language conference are organized to enlighten the general public on a legal issue. Following each conference, the ''Journal'' holds a reception that allows members of the legal community to discuss the topic. The conferences help members of different bar associations obtain professional development credits.

The ''McGill Law Journal''’s Annual English Lecture

Since the early 2000s, the ''McGill Law Journal'' has invited a well-known speakers to give a presentation to the

legal community and other people residing in

. The lecture is then published in the ''Journal''. The annual English lecture is one of the most sought-after events of the year at the Faculty of Law. In 1984,

gave a presentation there, as did the Honourable Justice Beverly McLachlin in 1991.

The ''McGill Law Journal''’s Annual French Conference

The francophone conference uses the same general concept as its English equivalent, that is, the ''McGill Law Journal'' invites a renowned speaker to present on a contested or little-known legal topic to the

and broader

legal community. The following chart presents some of the speakers who have been invited to the francophone conference over the years as well as the topics covered in the presentations.

Past Editors, Members, and Authors

Editors in Chief

Here is a list of the editors in chief of the ''McGill Law Journal'' from Volumes 1 through 67: * Vol 67: Arthur Scalabrini *Vol 66: Nathaniel Reilly * Vol 65: Lauren Weaver * Vol 64: Joseph Spadafore * Vol 63: Éléna Sophie Drouin * Vol 62: Laura Cárdenas * Vol 61: Fraser Harland * Vol 60: William Stephenson * Vol 59: Olga Redko * Vol 58: Marie-Eve Goulet * Vol 57: Will Colish * Vol 56: Sara Ross * Vol 55: Seo Yun Yang * Vol 54: Erin Morgan * Vol 53: Benjamin Moss * Vol 52: David Sandomierski * Vol 51: Kristin Ali * Vol 50: Fabien Fourmanoit * Vol 49: Toby Moneit * Vol 48: Carole Chan * Vol 47: Kevin MacLeod * Vol 46: Robert Leckey * Vol 45: Azim Hussain * Vol 44: Karlo Giannascoli * Vol 43: Sébastien Beaulieu * Vol 42: Martin J. Valasek * Vol 41: Mary-Pat Cormier * Vol 40: Jodi Lackman * Vol 39: Erica Stone * Vol 38: Mark Phillips * Vol 37: David A. Chemla * Vol 36: Julia E. Hanigsberg * Vol 35: Daniel Torsher * Vol 34: Gary F. Bell * Vol 33: M. Kevin Woodall * Vol 32: Marc Lemieux * Vol 31: Henry K. Schultz * Vol 30: Peter Oliver * Vol 29: Daniel Gogek * Vol 28:

Stephen Toope Stephen John Toope (born February 14, 1958) is a Canadian legal scholar, academic administrator and a scholar specializing in human rights, public international law and international relations. In April 2013 he announced he was stepping down ...

* Vol 27: F. Jasper Meyers * Vol 26: Linda R. Ganong (1979–1980) and Patrick Healy (1980–1981) * Vol 25: Mona R. Paul * Vol 24: Neil J. Smitheman * Vol 23: Cally Jordan * Vol 22: Louise Pelly * Vol 21: Laura Falk Scott * Vol 20: Frank H. Buckley * Vol 19: Graham Nevin * Vol 18: Michael David Kaylor * Vol 17: Joel King * Vol 16: André T. Mécs * Vol 15: Leonard Serafini * Vol 14: Ronald I. Cohen * Vol 13: Douglas Pascal * Vol 12: Stephen Allan Scott * Vol 11: Larry S. Sazant * Vol 10: Joseph J. Oliver * Vol 9: Mark M. Rosenstein * Vol 8: Alan Z. Golden * Vol 7: Norman M. May * Vol 6: A. Derek Guthrie * Vol 5: Henri P. Lafleur * Vol 4: Raymond Barakett * Vol 3: Harold W. Ashenmil * Vol 2: John E. Lawrence * Vol 1:

(issue one), Fred Kaufman (issues two and three), and William H. Reynolds (issue four)

Some Former ''McGill Law Journal'' Editors

Former ''McGill Law Journal'' editors include judges Benjamin J. Greenberg, Morris Fish, John Gomery, Jean-Louis Baudouin, Brian Riordan, Allan Lutfy, Suzanne Coupal, Brigitte Gouin,

Ronna Brott Ronna Brott is a Master with the Ontario Superior Court. She is a graduate of the McGill University Faculty of Law, where she served as the circulation editor for the ''McGill Law Journal The ''McGill Law Journal'' is a student-run legal publicatio ...

Nicholas Kasirer Nicholas Kasirer is a puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada. He was sworn into office on September 16, 2019. Kasirer was previously a justice with the Quebec Court of Appeal between 2009 and 2019. He is a graduate of the McGill Univer ...

, and Max M. Teitelbaum; there have been some board chairs such as David P. O’Brien and Bernard Amyot; academics such as

Dick Pound Richard William Duncan Pound (born March 22, 1942), better known as Dick Pound, is a Canadian swimming champion, lawyer, and spokesman for ethics in sport. He was the first president of the World Anti-Doping Agency and vice-presi ...

and

Bartha Knoppers Bartha Maria Knoppers, OC OQ (born May 26, 1951) is a Canadian law Professor and an expert on the ethical aspects of genetics, genomics and biotechnology. Born in Hilversum, Netherlands, she received a Bachelor of Arts (French and English Liter ...

; entertainment professionals such as Lionel Chetwynd; and politicians such as

Irwin Cotler Irwin Cotler, PC, OC, OQ (born May 8, 1940) is a retired Canadian politician who was Member of Parliament for Mount Royal from 1999 to 2015. He served as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada from 2003 until the Liberal gov ...

, Yoine Goldstein, and Canada's Minister of Justice

David Lametti David T. Lametti (born August 10, 1962) is a Canadian politician who has been the minister of justice and attorney general of Canada since 2019. A member of the Liberal Party, Lametti sits as a member of Parliament (MP) and has represented L ...

Public Figures who have Published in the ''Journal''

Renowned public figures who have appeared in the pages of the ''Journal'' include former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Supreme Court Justices Rosalie Abella and Gerald Fauteux, former Canadian Governor General David Johnston, and United Nations diplomat Yves Fortier.

External Publications

Books

In 2013, author James Cummins published ''The Journal: 60 years of People, Prose, and Publication'' with 8th House Publishing in

. In celebration of the Faculty of Law's sixtieth anniversary, the book recounts the history of the ''McGill Law Journal'' from the first volume to the fifty-seventh. The ''Journal'' also featured in the book ''A Noble Roster: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Law at McGill'', written by a former McGill Law student, Ian C. Pilarczyk.

Supreme Court of Canada References to ''Journal'' Articles

The ''McGill Law Journal'' was the first Canadian legal publication to be cited in a Supreme Court decision. To date, the ''Journal'' has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in over 150 cases.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcgill Law Journal Canadian law journals McGill University Multilingual journals 1952 establishments in Quebec Quarterly journals Publications established in 1952 Law journals edited by students