The Constitutional and Cultural Underpinnings of Freedom of Expression: Lessons from the United States and Canada
University of Queensland Law Journal, Vol. 3, 2006
22 Pages Posted: 11 Mar 2009
Date Written: 2006
Abstract
The author argues that different conceptions of freedom of expression in the United States and Canada have less to do with differences in the formal commitment these countries have made in their respective bills of rights - the constitutional underpinnings of the freedom of expression - than with the cultural underpinnings of the freedom of expression in each country.
To the extent that the protection of rights and freedoms depends on judicial interpretation of a bill of rights, a judiciary's conception of its country's political culture, both in a descriptive and a normative sense, is likely to be more important than either the way in which those rights and freedoms are worded or the legal status of the bill of rights in which they are protected.
Keywords: First Amendment, freedom of expression, judicial review, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, New Zealand Bill of Rights, Australian bills of rights
JEL Classification: K10, K19, K39
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation