Seeking the Court’s Advice

The first comprehensive analysis of the Canadian reference power, Seeking the Court’s Advice examines how policy makers use the courts strategically to achieve political ends.

Can Parliament legalize same-sex marriage? Can Quebec unilaterally secede from Canada? Can the federal government create a national firearms registry? Each of these questions is contentious and deeply political, and each was addressed by a court in a reference case, not by elected policy makers.

Reference cases allow governments to obtain an advisory opinion from a court without a live dispute and opposing litigants – and governments often wield this power strategically. Through a reference case, elected officials can insert the courts and the judiciary into political debates that can be both contentious and normative. Seeking the Court’s Advice is the first in-depth study of the reference power, drawing on over two hundred reference cases from 1875 to 2017. With novel insight and analysis, Kate Puddister demonstrates that the actual outcome of a reference case – win or lose – is often secondary to the political benefits that can be attained from relying on courts through the reference power.