From: Peter Radan <peter.radan@mq.edu.au>
To: Gerard Sadlier <gerard.sadlier@gmail.com>
Harrington Matthew P. <matthew.p.harrington@umontreal.ca>
CC: obligations@uwo.ca
Date: 14/01/2017 05:50:26 UTC
Subject: Re: Canada Supreme Court Greatest Hits in Contract

Dear Matthew,


Like Gerard, I am no expert on Canadian contract law, but I would nominate Semelhago v Paramadevan [1996] 2 SCR 425 which rejects the notion that specific performance of land contracts should always be available on the basis that damages at common law would always be an inadequate remedy.  I may note that, together with the Whiten case referred to by Gerard, these are the only two Canadian Supreme Court cases discussed in a textbook that I have co-authored on Australian contract law!


I look forward to seeing the end product of your project.


Regards,


Peter


Peter Radan FAAL

Professor of Law


Macquarie Law School  |   Level 5, W3A Building (Room 527)
 Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia


T: +61 2 9850 7091  |  F: +61 2 9850 9686
 

E: peter.radan@mq.edu.au

From: Gerard Sadlier <gerard.sadlier@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, 14 January 2017 11:23:30 AM
To: Harrington Matthew P.
Cc: obligations@uwo.ca
Subject: Re: Canada Supreme Court Greatest Hits in Contract
 
Dear Matthew,

I'm no Canadian lawyer and for that matter no scholar but for what
it's worth I think the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Whiten v
Pilot Insurance Co [2002] SCC 18 is particularly important. I guess
this will not be a popular view on this list but exemplary damages
ought to be available in certain classes of contract, where the breach
is sufficiently flagrent and disgraceful and the consequences of that
breach have more than merely commercial consequences for the wronged
party. (I suspect the person on the street might be more likely to
agree with me on this than most lawyers.)

More generally, I think the Supreme Court of Canada's caselaw on
insurance contracts in recent decades has usually been progressive and
valuable. I hesitate to pick out a couple of decisions because I'm not
sufficiently familiar with the cases to necessarily identify how they
fit together.

Kind regards

Ger

On 1/13/17, Harrington Matthew P. <matthew.p.harrington@umontreal.ca> wrote:
> Dear Colleagues:
>
> I’m doing a short piece on the Canada Supreme Court and the law of contract
> with a bit of an historical focus.  I was wondering if you might be willing
> to share with me what you consider the court’s most significant contracts
> cases --- over the past 150 years ----  even if  the case has been
> overruled.
>
> Thanks
>
> Matt
>
> -------------------------------
> Matthew P Harrington
> Professeur
> Faculté de droit
> Université de Montréal
> 514.343.6105
> commonlaw.umontreal.ca
> ------------------------------
>
>