Introduction and History of the Canada/U.S. Law Institute

Canada-United States Law Journal Canada-United States Law Journal

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Introduction and History of the Canada/U.S. Law Institute Introduction and History of the Canada/U.S. Law Institute

Sidney Picker Jr.

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY OF THE CANADA/U.S. LAW INSTITUTE

Sidney Picker, Jr.

I am Sidney Picker, Jr., a member of the faculty of Case Western Reserve Law School. I am also the Chair of the Canada/U.S. Law Advisory Board as well as the Institute's founder and initial U.S. Director. Henry King, the current Director of the Institute, has asked me to welcome you to this, the twenty-fifth annual conference of the Institute. The subject is the Impact of Federalism and Border Issues on Canada/U.S. Relations.

Donning my "founder's cap", replete with the Institute's history, Henry King has asked me to describe briefly the origins and activity of the Institute. The Canada-United States Law Institute was established twenty-five years ago, in 1976. The Institute is a bi-national entity, the joint creation of the law schools of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. It has two Directors, one at each of the two campuses. They are Henry King, the U.S. Director, who has served in that position since succeeding me in 1983, and Chios Carmody, the Canadian Director.

The Institute was the first academic organization in either country

designed with the following two missions in mind:

1. To explore the legal issues affecting the special Canada/U.S. relationship; and

2. To examine each other's legal structures and processes in order to provide comparative law opportunities for the students and faculties at both law schools, as well as to the broader legal communities in both countries.

With respect to the first of these missions, it is interesting to note that at the time of this establishment in 1976, there were very few organizational and legal structures beyond the Great Lakes Commission and the CanadaUnited States Automotive Pact designed to manage the Canada-U.S.

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relationship. However, in the succeeding twenty-five years we have witnessed the establishment of a number of international institutional arrangements designed to manage that bilateral relationship, and indeed to expand it to a trilateral, and inevitably in the twenty-first century, to what will be a multilateral hemispheric relationship.

With respect to the second mission, the two countries provide ideal ground for maximizing comparative law opportunities. On the one hand, they have a great deal in common. They have a great deal in common, including history, geography, a cultural and political heritage, language and economy. Thus students in either of the countries have ready access to, and little difficulty understanding, the relevant literature of the other, and they can readily relate to the societal issues under examination.

On the other hand, Canada and the United States are sufficiently different as to maximize the benefits of comparative analysis. Thus, while both countries have constitutions and federal systems, each is different. These differences in turn shape unique legal solutions to similar social, economic, and political problems. An examination of the other country's legal solutions within the context of its own constitutional/federal structures offers a better understanding of one's own national legal solutions.

In order to accomplish the two basic missions of the Institute, six separate programs have been established which are operated with varying degrees of regularity. These include:

1. An exchange of law students between the two participating law schools whereby students from each country may take for full credit one of their six law school semesters in the law school of the other country. In this regard, it is my special pleasure to note that with us today is one of our two former students from the first exchange twenty-five years ago. Rosemary McCarney of Toronto. Following this evening's banquet, Ms. McCarney will say a few words about those opening days of the Institute.

2. An exchange of faculty members between the two participating schools for brief visits, thus giving the host law school's student and faculty comparative law exposure.

3. The publication of what is the first scholarly law journal in either country devoted exclusively to the issues of common interests to practitioners, scholars, and public service personnel in both countries, the Canada-United States Law Journal. The Journal also publishes the proceedings of institutesponsored conferences, including the current conference.

4. The sponsorship of an international moot court competition, the so-called Niagara International Moot Court Competition, involving U.S. and Canadian law schools. Each year, this competition poses a hypothecated problem involving Canada and the United States, to be argued before the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court. Notwithstanding the competition's name, "Niagara," participating law schools represent the full geography of both countries.

5. The sponsorship of scholarly research on comparative international law issues that effect both countries: and

law and

6. The organization of conferences on subjects of common interest to both countries. Such conferences range from specific-focused half-day events to Annual Conferences, such as the present one, which continues for three days.

The current conference falls within the final program. The Institute has sponsored periodic conferences since its inception in 1976 whenever a subject matter seemed timely and appropriate.

In 1983, after Mr. King succeeded to the Institute, he introduced the annual conference, which focuses in particular on various aspects of the Canada-United States economic relationship. The annual conference format It means provides a more intensive (as well as extensive) experience. probing in greater depth, requiring advanced preparation, and circulating It also extensive background materials at the opening of the conferences. means extending the length of time for the conference, and scheduling it in an environment designed to promote both structured and informal interaction among participants and attendees. You are today a participant in that tradition.

The Institute is now twenty-five years old. This year, 2001, marks our silver anniversary. This anniversary provides us with an opportunity to review our past and consider the directions we should explore for the next In that regard, the Institute's Advisory Board, together twenty-five years. with representatives of both partner law schools as well as other interested parties from government as well as the private sector, will engage in a yearlong study to help us determine the ongoing direction of the Institute in the twenty-first century.

We also look forward to a new generation of Institute participants at our In that regard it is my particular pleasure to welcome the law schools. Institute's new Canadian Director, Professor Chios Carmody of the that next University of Western Ontario Law School who represents

generation and who will help bring new dimensions to Institute activities. I also want to welcome the University of Western Ontario's new law school dean, Ian Holloway, who has indicated his ongoing commitment to the Institute and has joined us today.

The Institute owes a debt of gratitude to a number of individuals and organizations that have supported it financially and intellectually for the last twenty-five years, both financially and intellectually. Included are the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. as well as the Canadian Consulates General, first in Cleveland, Ohio, and, and later, after that office was closed, in Detroit, Michigan. In addition, private nonprofit institutions in both countries have contributed generously since the Institute's establishment. These include the William H. Donner Foundation, the Gund Foundation, the Cleveland Foundation, the Richard G. Ivey Foundation, and the Ohio Bar Foundation.

As the Founder of this Institute, I owe a particular debt to the person I am about to introduce, Henry King, the current U.S. Director of the Institute. At the time I first formulated the Institute concept, Henry King was Chief Corporate International Counsel at TRW. As an academic inexperienced in the ways of establishing such special-focused organizations, I turned to, and relied extensively on, Henry King's organizational skills as well as his substantial knowledge of Canadian affairs.

Henry King's background is quite extraordinary. He has served as Chairman of the Section of International Law and Practice of the American Bar Association as well as U.S. Chairman of the Joint American Bar Association- Canadian Bar Association (ABA-CBA) Working Group on Settlement of International disputes between Canada and the United States. More recently, he has served as the U.S. Chair of the Joint American Bar Association-Canadian Bar Association Baha- Mexicana Working Group on Settlement of International Disputes. What may be less well known to those interested in Canada-U.S. relations is that Henry King's legal career started out with his membership on the prosecuting team at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials in Germany after World War II, about which he wrote an published a book recently, "The Two World's of Albert Speer" published by University Press. His interest in international human rights affairs is ongoing, he is an active supporter of the new International Criminal Court, and he is regularly called on to lecture publicly on his Nuremberg experiences as well as his insights on the development of international law designed to protect human rights.

It is a great pleasure for me therefore to present to you the U.S. Director

of the Institute, Henry King.

--- FOOTNOTES ---

Part of the Transnational Law Commons

This Remarks is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Journals at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons.

Founder of the Canada- United States Law Institute; Chairman, Canada-United

States Law Institute Advisory Board; Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland).

CANADA-UNITED STATES LAW JOURNAL

Picker-INTRODUCTIONAND HISTORY

CANADA-UNITED STATES LAW JOURNAL

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