New Books – Summer 2025

Here’s a selection of new and noteworthy additions to our print collection over the last few months:

Fundamental principles of Canadian unjust enrichment / Mitchell McInnes
Practice Collection -2nd Floor; KF 1244 M36 2025

While attentive to the subject’s historical evolution, the book focuses on the law of unjust enrichment that is practiced in Canadian courts today. It takes a practical approach, and uses recent cases and numerous diagrams to illustrate key concepts. Consistent with the manner in which the Canadian legal system formulates and resolves restitutionary claims, Fundamental Principles of Canadian Unjust Enrichment is divided into four parts:

• Part I: Basic Principles opens with an introductory chapter and then devotes separate chapters to the governing principle’s three essential elements: enrichment, corresponding deprivation, and absence of juristic reason
• Part II: Juristic Reasons looks in more depth at the circumstances in which enrichments will be considered “unjust” and hence reversible
• Part III: Defences and Part IV: Restitution contain single chapters that address issues that arise once a court has recognized a prima facie right to unjust enrichment

The Power & Limits of Private Law / Marcus Moore & Samuel Beswick (eds)
Practice Collection -2nd Floor; KF 385 .ZA2 P69 2024

This collection of legal essays draws upon the third Canadian Law of Obligations conference held in June 2022 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The contributions explore and critique the power and limits of the laws of torts/delict, contract and restitution through a range of theoretical, technical, policy-oriented and pragmatic perspectives. They grapple with contemporary issues and developments in Canadian law and society, advancing insights to shape both the theory and the practice of private law.

Frustration of Contract / Bruce MacDougall
Practice Collection -2nd Floor; KF 837 M33 2025

Frustration of Contract is a comprehensive treatment of the law of frustration in Canada and is the first book on this subject matter. Frustration is perhaps the strongest legal intervention in a contract bringing it to a termination when an unexpected catastrophic event makes the contract radically different from that to which the parties agreed.

This text examines what circumstances lead to frustration (and which do not) and discusses the consequences of frustration. It also examines the use of force majeure clauses that obviate the need for the doctrine of frustration.

Ethics and Professional Practice for Paralegals / Jessica Hendriks & Patricia Knight
Practice Collection -2nd Floor; KF 320 .L4 K65 2025

Ethics and Professional Practice for Paralegals guides readers through principles of professional conduct, legal obligations, and ethical issues. It equips readers with the knowledge necessary for their future careers by outlining the Paralegal Rules of Conduct and the Paralegal Professional Conduct Guidelines while covering key topics, including the client relationships, retainers, the Paralegal Standing Committee, accreditation, and advertising practices.

The sixth edition introduces a new chapter on working with Indigenous clients to promote cultural literacy in paralegal services, along with new Case in Point boxes, additional scenarios, and increased commentary to prepare readers for ethical challenges in the legal field.

Using International Law in Canadian Courts / Gib Van Ert
Stacks -1st Floor; KF 4483 .I67 E78 2024

This third edition brings the book up to date with leading Supreme Court of Canada decisions while adding new discussions on such topics as executive certificates; internationally informed objections to court jurisdiction; non-binding arrangements between states; Empire treaties; treaty implementation through peace, order, and good government; treaty de-implementation; and Canada’s reception of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Women who woke up the law : inside the cases that changed women’s rights in Canada / Karin Wells
Circulating Section; KF 478 W45 2025

Who was the woman trying to convince a jury in a tiny courthouse in Nova Scotia that it was self-defense when she killed her partner; and who was the young woman walking into the palais de justice in small-town Quebec arguing that it was her choice, not his, to have an abortion? What was it that pushed these women on, even when the lawyers said it was hopeless?
Karin Wells pulls us into the lives and the legal trials of a group of women integral to the advancement of women’s rights in Canada. Eliza Campbell, Chantale Daigle, Jeannette Corbiere Lavell—these Women Who Woke Up the Law often had no idea what they were facing in the courts, or the price they would have to pay. Some never saw justice themselves, but they left a legal legacy.

*Descriptions taken or summarized from: publisher websites, table of contents and book prefaces.