JUDGES, POLITICS AND THE LAW

Abstract

Rather than opine on the merits of the controversial Canadian Wheat Board case, the author discusses the perennial tension between public interest and private rights that led to the result. This article supports the view that advocating the unpolitical treatment of predominantly political and social issues clothed in legal form is a self-delusion, and seeks to justify this view by analysing the social realities of contemporary western society, of the conclusions reached by prominent judges and jurists of our time and of the technical rules and premises that are used.