Skip navigation
  • Home
  • Browse
    • Communities
      & Collections
    • Browse Items by:
    • Publication Date
    • Author
    • Title
    • Subject
    • Department
  • Sign on to:
    • My MacSphere
    • Receive email
      updates
    • Edit Profile


McMaster University Home Page
  1. MacSphere
  2. Open Access Dissertations and Theses Community
  3. Open Access Dissertations and Theses
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/23926
Title: Justifying the Use of Foreign Precedent in Constitutional Cases
Authors: Cain, Gregory
Advisor: Waluchow, Wil
Department: Philosophy
Keywords: Philosophy of Law;Constitutional Democracy;Judicial Review;Foreign Precedent;Comparative Constitutional Law
Publication Date: 2018
Abstract: In this thesis, I attempt to justify the use of foreign precedent in Supreme Court constitutional cases and respond to various criticisms that have been brought forth. There are many critics of this process, as it is typically thought that Supreme Court Justices ought to look to their own domestic constitution and history of precedent when deciding cases. One of the critiques that I highlight is that the process is undemocratic and I respond to this by showcasing a distinction between procedural and constitutional conceptions of democracy. As well, I attempt to justify the process by showing how the utilization of foreign precedent can actually help judges uphold important values that we cherish in a constitutional democracy. I also attempt to do this for those who do not endorse the constitutional conception of democracy, by distinguishing between a community’s moral opinions and true moral commitments. I also examine two landmark cases Roper v. Simmons and Lawrence v. Texas, in order to establish the reasons that judges utilize foreign precedent; namely, as a source of further legal information and not due to any binding requirement.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/23926
Appears in Collections:Open Access Dissertations and Theses

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
cain_gregory_g_2018August_MA.pdf
Open Access
589.17 kBAdobe PDFView/Open
Show full item record Statistics


Items in MacSphere are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship     McMaster University Libraries
©2022 McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8 | 905-525-9140 | Contact Us | Terms of Use & Privacy Policy | Feedback

Report Accessibility Issue