Majid Nikouei

SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Constituent Power in Theory and Practice of Islamic Republic of Iran: A Historical Analysis
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5
Email: majid.nikouei@mail.utoronto.ca

Majid Nikouei thinks about modern constitutionalism and its challenges in Muslim-majority countries. He is particularly interested in how the elements of modern constitutionalism, such as rule of law and human rights, can be implemented in the Iranian and Shi'ite contexts. Before joining the University of Toronto, Majid was an adjacent lecturer at Islamic Azad University (Iran) and has taught courses in constitutional law, Islam and human rights, and public law in Islam.

Education
PhD (Public Law), Shahid Beheshti university (formerly known as National University), Tehran, Iran (summa cum laude)
M.Soc.Sc.(International Human Rights Law), Åbo Akademi University (ÅAU), Turku, Finland (summa cum laude)
L.L.M. (International Law), Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran (highest honours)
L.L.B. Shahid Beheshti university (formerly known as National University), Tehran, Iran
Awards and Distinctions
University of Toronto, Faculty of Law Scholarship, 2019.
Visiting Scholar, Pretoria University, South Africa, 2016.
NOET (National Organization of Educational Testing) Scholarship, Iran, 2005.
Professional Affiliations
Lawyer, Iranian Central Bar Association, 2017-present.
Adjunct Professor, Islamic Azad University of Najaf Aabad, 2015-2018.
Head of International and Human Rights Committee in Isfahan Bar Association (Iran), 2018.
Member of LAWJIP (Law, Justice and International Peace) Foundation, Esfahan, Iran, 2017
Selected Publications

English

"Jurisprudence of Tolerance: Hate Speech, Article 17 and Theory of Democracy in the European Convention on Human Rights" (2019) 8:1 International Human Rights Law Review 67-88 (with M. Zamani).

"Intervention by Invitation, Collective Self-defence and the Enigma of Effective Control" (2017) 16:4 Chinese Journal of International Law 663-694 (with M. Zamani).

"The Secession of Crimea: Where Does International Law Stand?" (2016) 85:1 Nordic Journal of International Law 37-64 (with M. Zamani).

Persian (Farsi)

 Articles

"From Natural Law to Natural Rights: Conceptual Analysis and Historical Evolution" (2017) 47:3 Public Law Studies Quarterly 747-769 (with S. Seyed Fatemi).

"A Critical analysis of ‘Disclosive Quality of Certainty (Qat‘) in Revealing Reality’ in Shi‘i Osul al-fiqh‌ in Light of Modern Epistemology" (2019) 11:20 Journal of Studies in Islamic Law and Jurisprudence 373-402 (with H Saraf). 

"The Avicenna’s Contribution to the Natural Law Theory of Aquinas" (2016) 2:2 Journal of Comparative Studies on Islamic and Western Law 49-76 (with S. Seyed Fatemi).

 "Reexamining the independent rationality (al-mustaqillat al-‘aqliyya) in Shi‘i Osul al-fiqh in Light of Rawls’s Analytical Framework in ‘Theory of Justice’" Journal of Comparative Law (NAMEH-YE MOFID) Forthcoming.

"Examining the Legality of Intervention by Invitation: A Critical Approach to Interventions in Mali, Ukraine, Syria and Yemen" (2017) 18:54 The Quarterly Journal of Public Law Research 289-317 (with M. Zamani).

"Examining the Exercise of Self-determination in Crimea from the Perspective of International and Constitutional Law" (2016) 73:1 Revue de la Recherche Juridique 253-284 (with M. Zamani).

"Human Rights and Rawls’s the Law of People: A Critical Approach" (2012) 76:79 The Judiciary Law Journal 125-153.

 Books

Natural Law in Shi‘ite Teachings and Its Implications For Theory of State, Tehran: Nashre Ney (forthcoming).

 Translation From English to Farsi: Anderi Marmor, Philosophy of Law, Princeton University Press, 2011. The translation was published by Negahe Moaser Publication, 2012 (with S. Abedi).

Research Interests
International Law
Islamic Law
Law and Religion
Legal History
Legal Theory
Political Philosophy and Theory
Supervisor
Mohammad Fadel
Committee Members
David Dyzenhaus
Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi, Professor of History and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at University of Toronto

Watch the video of the annual Wright Lecture - Philip Pettit on “The Elusive Sovereign”

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Philip PettitThe annual Cecil A. Wright Memorial Lecture marked its 50th anniversary with a talk on October 10, 2019 by Philip Pettit, L.S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values at Princeton University. The inaugural lecture had been given in 1969 by Prof J. Fleming (Univ of California).

Prof. Arthur Ripstein recognized with U of T's JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

Thursday, May 23, 2019
Professor Arthur Ripstein

University Professor of law and philosophy Arthur Ripstein is a recipient of the 2019 JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award, in recognition of his outstanding performance as a doctoral supervisor over 30 years. Two awards are offered at U of T annually, one in the humanities and social sciences and the other in physical and life sciences.

Prof. Arthur Ripstein delivers Tanner Lecture at UC Berkeley on "Rules for Wrongdoers"

Monday, May 6, 2019

In early April 2019, Prof. Arthur Ripstein delivered the Tanner Lectures on Human Values at UC Berkeley. Prof. Ripstein delivered two lectures, "Rules for Wrongdoers" and "Combatants and Civilians," followed by a seminar and discussion with three of the world's leading thinkers on these issues (Christopher Kutz, Berkeley; Oona A. Hathaway, Yale; and Jeff McMahan, Oxford).

Cara Locke*

Cara Locke (*née Mouland)
SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Remedial Justice: The Legitimacy of Remedies for Unconstitutional Laws
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5
Email: cara.locke@mail.utoronto.ca

Cara is interested in how judges act like legislators, and how legislators act like judges.

Her doctoral project focuses on remedies for unconstitutional criminal legislation. Cara's previous work has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in support of a disciplined approach to suspended declarations of invalidity.

Outside of academia, Cara has front-line experience as a lawyer in both courtrooms and legislative chambers. This concrete grounding continues to shape her work on the proper boundaries between judges and legislators.

Education
LLM - Long Thesis
JD (Distinction)
BA (Hons) - Psychology and English
Awards and Distinctions
C. David Naylor Fellow
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Scholar
Nathan Strauss Q.C. Graduate Fellow in Canadian Constitutional Law
Raoul Wallenberg Scholar
Doctoral Fellow, University of Toronto Faculty of Law
LLM Fellow, University of Toronto Faculty of Law
Professional Affiliations
Law Society of Ontario
Nova Scotia Barristers' Society
Canadian Bar Association
Selected Publications

“Remedying the Remedy: Bedford’s Suspended Declaration of Invalidity” (2018) 41:3 Man LJ 281. (Cited in G v Ontario, 2020 SCC 38)

"Debating the Rule of Law: The Curious Re-Enactment of the Solicitation Offence" (2021) 58:3 Alta L Rev 687.

 *née Mouland

Research Interests
Administrative Law
Canadian Constitutional Law
Charter of Rights
Comparative Law
Criminal Law 
Criminal Procedure and Evidence
Critical Legal Theory
Election Law
Judicial Decision-Making
Legal Ethics
Legal Process
Legal Theory
National Security Law and Anti-Terrorism Law
Political Philosophy and Theory
Supervisor
Kent Roach
Committee Members
Yasmin Dawood
Richard Stacey
External links
SSRN

Meet new faculty member Professor Chris Essert

Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Prof. Christopher Essert

By Sheldon Gordon

Eight years ago, when he began his academic career at Queen's Faculty of Law, Chris Essert was assigned to teach a course on property law.  He discovered that the connection between property rights and equality under the law raised so many interesting questions that it was an area he should address in his research, too. 

Book Symposium on Irit Samet, "Equity: Conscience Goes to Market"

* For confirmed participants only.

Programme

1:30-3:00 P.M.     Comments by Samuel Bray and Larissa Katz. Response by Irit Samet

3:00-3:30 P.M.     Tea and Coffee

3:30-5:00 P.M.     Comments by Dennis Klimchuk and Paul Miller. Response by Irit Samet

6:00 P.M.               Dinner at The Host, 14 Prince Arthur Ave.

Populist and Liberal Democracy

Alan Brudner
Monday, July 16, 2018

Populist and Liberal Democracy

Alan Brudner

 

                Many see the authoritarian bent of Donald Trump’s presidency as a threat to liberal democracy—not as great, perhaps, as the populist dictatorships of Poland, Hungary, and Russia, but certainly on the spectrum.  Those who hold this view typically contrast populist democracy with liberal democracy. Populist democracy is the personal rule of a leader who draws direct support from the masses.  Liberal democracy is the rule of laws authorized by the masses’ civic-minded representatives, administered by public servants, and endorsable by all subjects viewed as free and equal.

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