The Runnymede Society is a membership-based organization that invites speakers from all across the ideological spectrum to debate legal ideas that engage the rule of law, constitutionalism, and individual liberty. The goal is to focus on these age-old principles in the context of real issues that are not often explored in the law school classrooms.

Law and Freedom 2023

The Runnymede Society is pleased to announce that Law and Freedom 2023 will be held January 20-21, 2022 at Hart House in Toronto, ON. Each year, Law and Freedom gathers over hundreds of scholars, lawyers, and law students to hear from the best and brightest in Canada’s legal community on pressing topics of academic and practical importance. We are pleased to announce that Justice Russell Brown of the Supreme Court of Canada will be joining us as our keynote speaker on Saturday evening. Stay tuned for

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Call for Papers

The Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba, Faculty of Law, University of Alberta, and the Runnymede Society invite paper proposals in English or in French for a one-day, all-day workshop/symposium on private rights and the rule of law. The symposium will be held in Banff on July 10, 2023. Papers will be published in an edited collection, subject to successful peer review, in a special edition of the Supreme Court Law Review. Justice Suzanne Côté of the Supreme Court of

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Yuan Yi Zhu and Kerry Sun: What is Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

In this episode, our National Director Kristopher Kinsinger is joined by Yuan Yi Zhu and Kerry Sun to discuss the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent R v Bissonnette decision, a topic they have written about for The Spectator magazine. Yuan Yi Zhu is a doctoral candidate in international relations and incoming research fellow at the University of Oxford. Kerry Sun is a distinguished Runnymede alumnus and graduate student of law, also at the University of Oxford.

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Justice Peter Lauwers: The Judicial Mind

  This episode of our podcast is a special encore presentation from one of our best events of the previous academic year, in which Justice Peter Lauwers of the Court of Appeal for Ontario presents a lecture on what he calls ‘an operating manual for the judicial mind’. This lecture was originally delivered at the annual Runnymede Student Summit in July 2021, and again at the University of Saskatchewan in March 2022.

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WHY JOIN THE RUNNYMEDE SOCIETY?

INTELLECTUAL ENRICHMENT

We provide funding for debates, symposia, and panel discussions with external speakers and refreshments. We are able to assist with reaching out to speakers and fund out-of-town speaker travel expenses.

SOCIAL LIFE

We host regular networking events with local members of the legal profession, academics, journalists, and other students.

ACADEMIC ASSISTANCE

We aim to connect first-year students with upper-years who can provide mentorship and academic guidance, as well as course summaries.

Mission

In 2016, we founded the Runnymede Society as a national student membership organization dedicated to exploring the ideas and ideals of constitutionalism, liberty and the rule of law. We provide outstanding support and opportunities for intellectual enrichment, networking, and professional development, including by providing members opportunities to meet and enrich their legal knowledge with professors, practitioners, and judges.

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