Democratic governing must be understood from the perspective of its most fundamental characteristic, the rule of law, and functions through its public institutions and processes of public life and the latter depend on the former for their legitimacy.
In Canada, there is a need for an organization to study Parliament, government, public administration and politics from a particularly legal perspective.
Questions aimed at analyzing the rule of law and the role of law, such as the following, frequently arise:
- What are the constitutional provisions applicable and the laws relevant to a governmental institution or an administrative or political process?
- How does law interact with other instruments of governing?
- To what extent and in which circumstances does the law exert its influence vis-à-vis administrative convenience, necessity and discretion, or in the face of political power?
- What are the possible legal outcomes in situations of conflict?
The Institute of Parliamentary and Political Law seeks to address these and other similar issues through observation, discussion, writing and education. It is based in Ottawa.
The aim of the Institute is to contribute to the understanding and strengthening of democratic governing. Toward that end, its methodology is to conduct interdisciplinary, comprehensive and comparative analysis, but not to engage in advocacy. It is politically neutral, autonomous from any partisan political organizations or interests.
The Institute comprises, indeed welcomes, legal scholars and practitioners, specialists in political science and public administration, public servants and parliamentarians.
It will seek to work together with professional associations examining the State and its functions from other, related perspectives as well as governmental agencies and foreign or international bodies the
aims of which include the analysis of statecraft.
The Institute is creating a body of literature on topics of interest through its Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law, published by Thomson Carswell.
Its program also includes the organization of conferences on matters of parliamentary and political law of current significance and interest, and the fostering of cooperation among academics and practitioners of parliamentary and political law.