Malcolm Lavoie, BA (Hons) (UBC), MSc (LSE), BCL, LLB (McGill), LLM, SJD (Harvard)

About

Malcolm Lavoie is a Professor in the Faculty of Law. He is currently on leave from the University, serving as the Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Alberta.

Professor Lavoie’s research deals with property law, judicial remedies, federalism, and issues of Indigenous land tenure and jurisdiction. Prior to joining the Faculty of Law, he was a graduate student at Harvard Law School, where his work was supported by a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship and a Fulbright Student Award. He previously clerked for the Hon. Justice Frans Slatter of the Alberta Court of Appeal and for the Hon. Justice Rosalie Abella of the Supreme Court of Canada. He is a past recipient of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT) Scholarly Paper Award and the Harvard Project on the Foundations of Private Law Writing Prize. His scholarship has also been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada. In addition to his research and teaching, Prof. Lavoie has been an active member of the Alberta Bar. In his practice, he has consulted on civil, constitutional, and regulatory issues. He has previously argued two cases before the Supreme Court of Canada. Prof. Lavoie was formerly a member of the Alberta Judicial Council and the boards of the Centre for Constitutional Studies and the Edmonton Bar Association, where he served a term as President.

Research

• Property Law
• Judicial Remedies
• Federalism
• Aboriginal Law
• Legal Theory

Selected Publications

Books

• Mitchell McInnes, Ian R Kerr, Anthony VanDuzer & Malcolm Lavoie, Managing the Law: The Legal Aspects of Doing Business, 6th ed (Toronto: Pearson, 2022) (link).
• Malcolm Lavoie, Trade and Commerce: Canada’s Economic Constitution (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2023) (link).
• Eran Kaplinsky, Malcolm Lavoie & Jane Thomson, Ziff’s Principles of Property Law, 8th ed (Toronto: Carswell, 2023).

Articles

• Malcolm Lavoie, “Property Rights, Takings, and the Rule of Law: Assessing Annapolis Group v. Halifax Regional Municipality”, Supreme Court Law Review [forthcoming] (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie, "Subsidiarity and the Structure of Property Law", 74:2 University of Toronto Law Journal [forthcoming]. (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie, “Models of Indigenous Territorial Control in Common Law Countries: A Functional Comparison” in Dwight Newman, ed, Research Handbook on the International Law of Indigenous Rights (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2022). (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie, “Property and Local Knowledge” (2021) 70 Catholic University Law Review 637. (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie & Moira Lavoie, “Indigenous Institutions and the Rule of Indigenous Law” (2021) 101 Supreme Court Law Review (2d) 325-335. (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie, “The Implications of Property as Self-Government” (2020) 70:4 University of Toronto Law Journal 535-571. (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie, “Property Law and Collective Self-Government” (2020) 64:2 McGill Law Journal 255-308. (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie, “Aboriginal Rights and the Rule of Law” (2019) 92 Supreme Court Law Review (2d) 159-183. (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie, “Aboriginal Title Claims to Private Land and the Legal Relevance of Disruptive Effects” (2018) 83 Supreme Court Law Review (2d) 129-166. (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie, “R. v. Comeau and Section 121 of the Constitution Act, 1867: Freeing the Beer and Fortifying the Economic Union” (2017) 40:1 Dalhousie Law Journal 189-219. (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie & Moira Lavoie, “Land Regime Choice in Close-Knit Communities: The Case of the First Nations Land Management Act” (2017) 54:2 Osgoode Hall Law Journal 559-607. (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie, “Why Restrain Alienation of Indigenous Lands?” (2016) 49:3 University of British Columbia Law Review 997-1060. (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie, "Canada’s 'Unique' Approach to Specific Performance in Contracts for the Sale of Land: Some Theoretical and Practical Insights" (2013) 12:2 Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 207-227. (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie, "Understanding 'Trade as a Whole' in the Securities Reference" (2013) 46:1 University of British Columbia Law Review 157-175. (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie, “Locke, Hegel, and Rights to Property: Examining the Unstable Ideological Architecture of the Canadian Law of Aboriginal Title” (2012) 69 University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review 25-54. (link)
• Malcolm Lavoie, “Canadian Common Law and Civil Law Approaches to Constructive Takings: A Comparative Economic Perspective” (2011) 42:2 Ottawa Law Review 229-252. (link)