Origins of Law:

Niloofar Akbari
Part 1:

Canada’s law system is a mixing pot of many different sets of laws dating back from

1795 BCE to 1804 CE. Similar to the Hammurabi's code (1795 BCE) the government

favors the wealthy of our society, you rarely see millionaires in jail for a crime that

would’ve gotten a less wealthy person in jail without hesitation. Laws are changing and

new ones are being made, the only way for Canadians to be able to keep up with this is

by writing and typing them down, similar to Roman law (450 BCE) and the Napoléonic

Code (1804 CE). In every law case taken to court the respondent and the defendant both

have legal representatives either lawyer or paralegal and this idea stems from Roman

law (450 BCE). The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms s10(c) states “to have the

validity of the detention determined by way of habeas corpus and to be released if the

detention is not lawful.” Which comes from the Magna Carta (1215 CE) where even

though people were wrongly imprisoned often they still had the right to go before a

court to fight for their innocence, hence habeas corpus. There are laws for every random

scenario you could think of, taking a bandaid off in public in Canada is illegal and you

could be charged, this might come from the Justinian Code (534 CE) where there was a

law for every aspect of you life to the point where you did not have much freedom of

choice. Every working person in Canada dreads paying taxes, and it stems from

William the Conqueror (1066 CE) where they established the feudal system, of course at

that time it was you pay money to the royal court and the churches, whereas now you

pay money to the government for things like health care, educational institutions,

building development, shipment of food from other countries, and so many more.
Part 2:

Canadian Law heavily resembles The Magna Carta, in the sense that a free man cannot

be imprisoned, killed, or in general receive any legal punishments without defending

themselves which is very similar to the Canadian legal system and appears in our

charter as habeas corpus, the right to go before court to fight for innocence, similar to

how in The Magna Carta the alleged criminal must go before his equals or the law of

the land and receive lawful judgment. In a legal system the head of the country has no

say in the final decision but the juries and judges do similar to how The Magna Carta

limited the Kings say in legal disputes and relied more on the judgement of his equals,

and the law of the land. The Magna Carta allowed persons to have rights and be able to

not “work” for them (bribes from the King). The Magna Carta was a revolutionary

document that has shaped human rights in not only Canada but also other western

countries.
Part 3:

The Charter is very significant and such a predominant factor in Canadian society. The

Charter can help protect people from racial discrimination like in Mark Andrews’ case,

he was a perminant resident in British Columbia and had all the prerequisites to be able

to practice law in British Columbia, but since Andrews was not a Canadian citizen he

was not allowed to practice it. Andrews took The Law Society of British Columbia to

court where he used s.15 of the Charter as his defence, s.15 states “Every individual is

equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal

benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination

based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical

disability.” Andrews was able to win the case by showing how the act went against his

rights and freedoms as a person in Canada. The Charter not only helps protect people

from discrimination but also from the government. Southam Inc. took the legislation to

court because it violated the right to be free from unwanted search and seizure as per

s.8 of the Charter. They were able to win the case by merely stating that what they did

infringed on their basic rights and freedom. The Charter protects people daily, I am a

first generation immigrant whose parents are Chinese and Iranian with slight accents

when they speak. I speak mandarin fluently and I do not look Caucasian nor do I only

speak English and French. Section 15 of the Charter helps protect me from

discrimination and allows me to be able to speak it in public and in general go outside

without getting hate crimed. The Charter protects people, allows us to have rights, and

is very significant to our society.