Fortin Marie-France. The King Can Do No Wrong: Constitutional Fundamentals, Common Law History, and Crown Liability

Oxford University Press, 2024. — 352 p.- Illuminates the historical evolution of crown liability in common law, enabling fresh interpretations of current legal doctrine
- Offers a novel framework for understanding the core features of legal thinking on crown liability
- Enhances our understanding of the phrase 'the king can do no wrong', one of the most fundamental yet misunderstood tenets of common law'The king can do no wrong' remains one of the most fundamental yet misunderstood tenets of the common law tradition. Confusion over the phrase's historical origins and differing meanings has had serious consequences, making it easier for the state to escape liability for the harm caused to individuals by governmental officials or institutions.In the first dedicated monograph on the topic, Marie France-Fortin traces the historical evolution of 'the king can do no wrong' in constitutional and public law to shed new light on our current understanding of crown liability. The different meanings conveyed by the phrase in the common law world are clarified; the contradictions between them revealed. Adopting a historical constitutional approach, the book delves deep into traditional legal sources to develop an intellectual history of this key legal idea. It explains the mutation from 'the king can do no wrong' to 'the crown can do no wrong' at the end of the nineteenth century, analyzing the resulting departure from core tenets of the constitutional arrangement of the seventeenth century. The study of the evolution of 'the king can do no wrong' in English legal thinking, mirrored in Canada, is complemented by a comparative analysis of the idea in Australia, Ireland, and the United States, where its relationship with the concept of sovereign immunity is scrutinized.Retracing the evolution of the king can do no wrong in legal thinking, this book enhances academics', students', practitioners', and judges' understanding of the law of governmental liability in the common law world.Dr Marie-France Fortin is an Associate Professor of Public Law at the University of Ottawa. Educated at Université Laval (LLB), Harvard Law School (LLM), and the University of Cambridge (LLMi, PhD), she served as a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada and worked in public and private practice as a solicitor and barrister before taking up her current position.