By Megan Goldie
You’ve finished the school year, and now is your time to enjoy life, maybe read a book that you don’t have to annotate, or enjoy some non-CanLII screen time. If, like me, you are overwhelmed by freedom and can’t choose what to do first, try this quick-start guide based on your favourite 1L class.
Constitution
READ: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Dystopian fiction is the softest place to confront state sanctioned deprivation of life, liberty, security of the person. Beautifully written and sad, this book will make you cry.
WATCH: Beans (2020 Movie)
Back to reality! Set during the Kanehsatake Resistance (Oka Crisis) this is a relatable and poignant coming of age story that will get you thinking about both section 35 and federalism issues, and also make you cry.
Contracts
READ: Bad Blood by John Carreyrou
If I learned only one thing from contracts, it’s that a court is not going to find mistake or frustration when one party promises to deliver groundbreaking technology knowing that it’s all made up. This book also made me afraid to ever sign an NDA.
WATCH: Severance (2022 TV show)
Can there be consensus ad idem if one party has two different minds? Is this a privity issue? Regardless, I’m pretty sure these contracts are unconscionable even before Uber v Heller, and that indentured servitude contravenes public policy.
Criminal
READ: My Sister the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
A delicious read if you enjoy reading about murder which, since your favourite class is crim, I assume you do.
WATCH: Yellowjackets (2021 TV Show)
Fun game! Choose the defence with an air of reality for the highest number of the many crimes committed in this show. Necessity seems to be the front-runner, but don’t count out intoxication, provocation, or self-defence.
Legislation
READ: The Scar by China Miéville
The main character cons her way out of a bad situation by promising to translate a language that she definitely doesn’t speak. A great read about the importance of language and interpretation (among other things, it’s a thick book, friends).
WATCH: CPAC (www.cpac.ca)
It’s live action Hansard! The closest we can get to knowing the intention of the legislature.
Property
READ: Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
This starts with one doozy of a landlord-tenant issue, and the overwhelming sense of impending doom that comes from reading it captures the lead up to the property final quite nicely.
WATCH: Finders Keepers (2015 Documentary)
Even if possession was not your favourite topic of 1L, I guarantee you’ll have opinions about who really owns this man’s foot and why.
Torts
READ: Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Come for the Rylands v Fletcher, stay for the soapy plot and satisfying ending.
WATCH: Woodstock 99: Peace, Love and Rage (2021 Documentary)
So. Much. Negligence. And that’s not even getting into the intentional torts.
