The Attorney-General in Government

Abstract

This article is based upon the text of an address delivered to a forum on “The Role of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice” held 17 October 1986 at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton. The author reviews the conflicting roles of the Attorney-General in his non-prosecutorial capacity and the Minister of Justice with emphasis on the Canadian provincial context. It outlines the balancing of interests and responsibilities of a cabinet minister bound for some purposes to doctrines of ministerial responsibility and cabinet solidarity, and for other purposes to doctrines of integrity, independence and quasi-judicial decision-making in the administration of justice. This paper may be viewed as a companion piece to the author’s “Police Power and the Role of the Provincial Minister of Justice” (1979), 27 (#1) Chitty’s L.J. 13.