Keywords
Law Reform Commission of Canada, Robert Samek, jurisprudence, mens rea, actus reus
Abstract
The name Robert Samek first came to my attention in the summer of 1985 as part of a research project carried out under the auspices of the Law Reform Commission of Canada. I was struck by what at the time seemed to be a complete contrast in two of his publications; his book, The Legal Point of View and an article, "A Case for Social Law Reform". Although only a few years apart, it seemed impossible that the two works could have come from the pen of the same author: the former was traditional, opaque, dull, pedantic and repetitive; the latter iconoclastic, lucid, fresh, aggressive and inspiring. Further research reinforced this seeming antinomy; a host of technical articles on contract law counterbalanced by a series of polemics which appeared to be somewhere to the left of the Conference on Critical Legal Studies, and an obscure book with a Greek sounding title, The Meta Phenomenon. A mystery was beginning to develop.
Recommended Citation
Richard F. Devlin, "Twisting the Tourniquet Around the Pulse of Conventional Legal Wisdom: Jurisprudence and Law Reform in the Work of Robert A. Samek" (1987) 11:1 Dal LJ 157.
