First published in 2002, Using International Law in Canadian Courts remains the only complete account of how public international law is received into the law of Canada. Drawing on authorities ranging from eighteenth-century English case law to contemporary Charter jurisprudence, Gib van Ert aims to show litigants and judges how public international legal norms may—and may not—be used in Canadian courts. No familiarity with international law is required; van Ert begins with an introduction to the international legal system and goes on to elucidate such questions as the relevance of international agreements to judicial decision-making, the place of customary international law in Canadian law, and the role of international human rights norms in Charter interpretation. The approach is practical and the analysis driven by case law. Yet van Ert’s exhaustive treatment of the constitutional, statutory, and common law rules of Canadian reception law will also interest academics and students.

This third edition brings the book up to date with leading Supreme Court of Canada decisions while adding new discussions on such topics as executive certificates; internationally informed objections to court jurisdiction; non-binding arrangements between states; Empire treaties; treaty implementation through peace, order, and good government; treaty de-implementation; and Canada’s reception of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Gib van Ert is a member of the British Columbia bar and practices civil litigation with Hunter Litigation Chambers in Vancouver. He holds a BA in history from McGill University, an MA in law from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and an LLM from the University of Toronto. He is a former law clerk to Madam Justice Prowse of the Court of Appeal for British Columbia and to Justices Gonthier and Fish of the Supreme Court of Canada. He is the co-author of International Human Rights Law (Irwin Law, 2004) and Using International Law in Canadian Courts (Irwin Law, 2008). He has published numerous articles on international and constitutional topics.

Gib van Ert's profile page