Fulbright Chair to study international law enforcement

Vaughan Black, professor with the Schulich School of Law, will be headed to warmer weather soon. He received a prestigious Fulbright Visiting Chair and will conduct research on international law at Arizona State University.

Prof. Black’s research focuses on bilateral treaties between the United States and Canada. While there are several treaties between the two countries, covering everything from trade to tax, there are no treaties about legal enforcement of court decisions. In other words, a United States resident found liable of negligence in Canada may be able to avoid paying damages because a United States court won’t enforce the decision. This is unusual considering that other Western countries such as Australia and New Zealand have legal enforcement treaties.

“There’s little formal legal integration between the two countries,” says Prof. Black. "Most countries that have the level of economic integration that we have usually have a greater measure of legal integration."

Prof. Black will study why there is such a low level of legal integration and identifying different solutions. Some of his research will look at the European Union, which has incorporated civil law integration. He believes that politics plays a major factor in the U.S./Canada dilemma.

“Federalism plays a big role,” he says. “We have to get the provinces on board and the U.S. has to get the states too. Right now we don’t have the political climate to change that.

Considering treaties

Not all international law is as murky. There are treaties covering criminal and family law where court judgments in Canada would be enforceable in the United States. However, contract and negligence law remains unclear.

Prof. Black believes a big reason the lack of legal certainty is that Canada has been mostly focused on a bigger goal: getting a global treaty about judgment enforcement in place. Canada was a part of an international conference to create a global treaty that would focus on contract and tort law, but the outcome was unsuccessful.

“We need strong federal leadership to implement a bilateral treaty,” says Prof. Black. “Canada could move to make this happen but it might be difficult in the U.S.”

Technically the agreement of the various provinces and states may not be needed. The Canadian constitution gives the federal government the power to regulate trade and commercegives the federal government the power to regulate trade and commerce. Through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Canada could push for legal cooperation. Going through the indirect route, however, can be inefficient.

“Enforcement varies and it’s expensive,” says Prof. Black. “Right now we have a dysfunctional system but more research is required to look at the issues.”

An international opportunity

The Fulbright program helps give academics the opportunity to work abroad. Canadian professors apply to research at United States universities, while U.S. scholars come as visiting researchers in Canada. Prof. Black will be the first legal scholar to be a Fulbright Visiting Chair at Arizona State University. He’ll be conducting his research at the North America Center for Transborder Studies.

He’s already a seasoned traveller, having gone on numerous academic sabbaticals in his career including visiting professorships at the University of British Columbia and Osgoode Law School at York University. Before teaching, Prof. Black studied law at the University of Toronto and received his Master of Laws from the University of California, Berkeley. He teaches international law and conflict of laws.

For now, he is on sabbatical and getting ready for another adventure.

“It’s good to have a change of pace,” he says. “It’s exciting to work in a different place.”