Third Year Hon. Mention: The Limitations of Law

SOSC 3361, Disability and the Law: Critical Perspectives on Disability Rights Legislation. CD: Lykke de la Cour.

Abstract

Author Josh Bernstein, in his thoughtful essay “The Limitations of the Law”, makes a persuasive case that legal means are limited in their ability to ameliorate the injustices wrought against the marginalized in capitalist societies such as Canada.  The author supports his contention by discussing the law in conjunction with one marginalized group, people with disabilities; in particular he focuses in depth on one case adjudicated by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal.  In this way the author carefully and cogently lays out the reality of the situation and then the inevitable results for the marginalized in general, thus carrying the reader inexorably along to the same conclusion. In the end this is a very compelling and well-argued paper which is most deserving of being recognized for one of the Faculty honourable mentions for third-year.