Paul C. Weiler (28 January 1939 – 7 July 2021) was the Henry J. Friendly Professor of Law, at Harvard Law School and a widely published expert in labour law, sports law and tort. In 2016, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Career Weiler was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He completed a bachelor and master of Arts at the University of Toronto in 1960 and 1961, before completing an LL.B. at Osgoode Hall Law School in 1964 and an LL.M. at Harvard Law School in 1965. In 1973 he was a professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School, called upon by the British Columbia government to assist in drafting legislation which brought their Labour Relations Board into existence.Alan R.F.J. Artibise, '"A Worthy, if Unlikely Enterprise:" The Labour Relations Board and the Evolution of Labour Policy and Practice in British Columbia, 1973-1980', BC Studies, Number 56, Winter 1982-3, p.10 Then, he "was chairman of the British Columbia Labour Relations Board from 1973 to 1978."Alan R.F.J. Artibise, '"A Worthy, if Unlikely Enterprise:" The Labour Relations Board and the Evolution of Labour Policy and Practice in British Columbia, 1973-1980', BC Studies, Number 56, Winter 1982-3, p.10, Footnote He subsequently became the MacKenzie King Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies, Harvard University in 1978Alan R.F.J. Artibise, '"A Worthy, if Unlikely Enterprise:" The Labour Relations Board and the Evolution of Labour Policy and Practice in British Columbia, 1973-1980', BC Studies, Number 56, Winter 1982-3, p.10, Footnote and the Henry J. Friendly Professor of Law from 1993, until taking an Emeritus position in 2008.
Non obstante clause Weiler had an influence on the formation of the 1982 Canadian constitution. An article Weiler wrote in 1980 for the Dalhousie Law Journal recommended inserting a non obstante (or notwithstanding) clause in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.Paul Weiler, "Acceptance speech of the Bora Laskin Award..." , Lancaster House Labour Law On-line (website), 5 May 2005, accessed 2 April 2011 This would allow an individual province to pass a law in violation of some charter provisions. This concept was shared with Jim Matkin, British Columbia deputy minister of inter governmental affairs, who shared this with other provinces in a no-author text during interprovincial negotiations toward constitutional change in Canada.Bob Plecas, Bill Bennett, A Mandarin's View, p. 161 During the Kitchen Accord this concept reappeared and became one of the compromises that led to a patriated Canadian constitution.
Publications Articles 'Promises To Keep: Securing Workers' Rights to Self-Organization Under the NLRA' (1983) 96(8) Harvard Law Review 1770
Books Entertainment, Media and the Law (West 3rd ed. 2006) Sports and the Law (West 3rd ed. 2004) (with G Roberts) Leveling the Playing Field: How the Law Can Make Sports Better for Fans (Harvard University Press 2000) "Reconcilable Differences: New Directions in Canadian Labour Law" (Carswell 1980)
See also US labor law US tort law Canadian labour law
References
External links Prof Weiler's blogspot Prof Weiler's homepage at Harvard Law