F. R. Scott's Constitution

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
F. R. Scott's Constitution
Abstract
The author reviews and assesses Frank Scott's vision of Canada, a vision that encompassed not only a legal dimension, but also political, economic, social, and cultural aspects. Scott (1899-1985) was a poet, lawyer, social activist, and constitutional law professor at Montreal's McGill University. The author distinguishes between "the constitution according to F. R. Scott" and "F. R. Scott's constitution". The former idea refers to the position with respect to the constitution that Scott advocated throughout his life, and that he actually saw achieved in the last years of his life. It stresses the explicit constitution over the implicit constitution, giving precedence, in the author's terms, to constitutional reason over constitutional rhyme. The author argues that Scott's complete vision of the Canadian constitution is not yet realized. He maintains that we need to discover "F. R. Scott's constitution" in order to reverse the contemporary tendency to deploy a constitutional reason grounded in rights discourse over the constitutional rhyme of justice, equity, and social responsibility.
Publication
McGill Law Journal/Revue de droit de McGill
Volume
Vol. 42
Issue
no. 1
Pages
11-28
Date
1997
Language
en
URL
Citation
Macdonald, Roderick A. “F. R. Scott’s Constitution.” McGill Law Journal/Revue de droit de McGill Vol. 42, no. 1 (1997): 11–28. http://www.lawjournal.mcgill.ca/userfiles/other/6565108-42.Macdonald1.pdf.
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