The legal protection of trade secrets is a desirable objective for the law to pursue and requires improvement through the implementation of new civil and criminal law measures. This report recommends the creation of two new statutory torts to protect the plaintiff who is without an agreement that is governed by the general law of contract. The first tort is aimed at industrial espionage in relation to trade secrets and would make the acquisition of [...]
This report addresses the desire by those who are contemplating their own possible mental incapacity to assign to someone power of attorney over their affairs. At the time of this report, at common law, a power of attorney would automatically terminate as soon as the donor of that power had become mentally incapable. As a result, many people who suffered mental incapacity would have a trustee assigned by a court to care for their affairs. [...]
This report is a reissue and update from of Report 20, Status of Children, June 1976. The report provided detailed reasons and recommends that there will be one status for all children; that the legal relationship of child and parent be dependent on their biological relationship; that with the exception of parental guardianship, all rights and obligations of the child born out of wedlock, of a parent, or of any other person be determined in [...]
This report examines the provisions of the Statue of Frauds and the Guarantees Acknowledgment Act, an Alberta statute. Where the provisions of these Acts are still useful, the report recommends that it be retained and reformed, where they are not useful that they be abolished. The Statue of Frauds was enacted by the English Parliament in 1677 to prevent false claims being accepted by the courts by requiring that a number of kinds of contracts [...]
The amicus curiae procedure, describes a lawyer who is appointed to ensure that the Judge receives all necessary information so that he may decide who should have custody of a child or children involved in a custody dispute. The amicus curiae arranges for expert professionals to investigate the circumstances of the child and child's family and to form opinions as to where the child's best interests lie. A majority of cases utilizing an amicus curiae [...]
This report sets out a rules of conduct which will provide a firm and ascertainable legal basis for the conduct of private debt collection agencies and the debt collectors, and rules of conduct which should apply to everyone including collection agencies but also including creditors who collect their own debts. Proposed standards of conduct include prohibitions and obligations stated in simple and intelligible language so it will provide and efficient method of enforcement of the [...]
This report considers different approaches to compensation for expropriated land which is subject to one or more security interests, especially mortgages. Current to the publication of the report (May 1984), compensation in these cases was regulated by s 49 of the Expropriation Act, RSA 1980, c E-16. This compensation was based on the "market value" theory, under which the security holder was paid market value of the security interest attached to the land, and the [...]
This report address the problem of a person who wants judicial review of an administrative decision, action or refusal. There is a variety of procedures to choose from, but if the wrong choice is made there is the possibility of delay, incurred cost, and loss of remedy. This report recommends substituting the several existing procedures with one simple procedure in which the claimant can obtain any and all of the judicial review remedies to which [...]
This report deals with charges of "provincial offences" which are offences under "enactments" (e.g. Alberta statutes, orders-in-council, regulations and municipal by-laws). True criminal offences are covered by the Criminal Code of Canada and some other federal legislation. A draft of proposed amendments to the Summary Convictions Act is attached. This report recommends that the three categories of regulatory offences (mens rea, absolute liability, and strict liability) be retained and that tests for them are established [...]
This report evaluates the Uniform Sale of Goods Act and considers whether it should be recommended to the Government of Alberta for legislative adoption. It covers the evolution of the Ontario Report, its referral to the Uniform Law Conference, and addresses whether there exists a need to amend or repeal the Sale of Goods Act in Alberta. The report recommends that Alberta adopt the Uniform Sale of Goods Act since on the whole it would [...]