the daily snivel

My Last Law School Exam Ever is on Friday, in that venerable old subject of administrative law. This is the body of law that upholds procedural fairness and transparency from administrative bodies like commissions, tribunals, boards, and so on, which receive their authority as delegates of a sovereign legislature like the federal Parliament or a provincial legislature. Essentially, such bodies make everyday decisions that can affect people's professional lives, immigration, trade, and so on, and they are held to a standard requiring various levels of notice (telling you that they're going to be deciding something about you), disclosure (what evidence they're using), giving an opportunity to respond (in person or writing), and providing some written reasons for the decision made. If there is some flaw or bias in the process, the courts have a review power and may correct the defect by ordering the decision-making body to do something, to stop doing something, or to look at their decision with the missing procedural protection in place. It's actually quite an important and interesting area of law, because while governments don't have the time or resources to make day-to-day decisions that can ruin your life, administrative bodies do (because governments give them that power), and you better believe that you want that decision-making body to be independent, fair, and open to your side of the story.

Anyway, I'm working on a summary for that class right now (more accurately, I'm procrastinating work on that summary right now), so I wanted to advise you that I'll probably be off in admin land until I finish the exam Friday afternoon.