At that time, Canada was on the cusp of major reforms in administrative law. As a testament to the quality of his groundbreaking work in this exciting period, the University of Ottawa has renewed Professor Daly’s mandate as chairholder for a further 5 years.
Professor Daly is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts in administrative law, the intricate set of legal rules that govern the functioning of administrative agencies across a vast array of domains, including economic regulation, social policy and service delivery. Among his core contributions since the start of his tenure as a University Research Chairholder is his monograph A Culture of Justification: Vavilov and the Future of Administrative Law (UBC Press, 2023). In this book, he explores how Canadian administrative law has been fraught for many decades with uncertainty and confusion and he investigates how the landmark decision Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov sought to bring an end to this confusion. Indeed, Professor Daly can claim some credit for the 2019 Vavilov decision: his tireless scholarship in the lead-up to the case brought scholars, sitting judges, practicing lawyers and retired judges together to criticize the current state of the law of judicial review of administrative action, and his work was cited by the judges.
Within the last five years, Professor Daly has also produced a groundbreaking book, Understanding Administrative Law in the Common Law World (Oxford University Press, 2021), which offers a new framework for understanding the main features of contemporary administrative law, has won recognition around the common law world and has been relied upon by the Supreme Court of Canada. His many published contributions are routinely cited by national and international courts. In an exceptionally short time, he has leveraged his University Research Chair to emerge as a prominent figure in public law leadership, recognized for his scholarship and impact both within Canada and internationally.
Professor Daly’s research program for the next five years will complement his work to date with a novel study of the administrative state itself. He intends to look back to Canada’s colonial era to study the inner workings of the early Canadian government and its evolution through time. This is a matter of fundamental importance for government and governance in Canada, for public administration, and for legal communications across the country as it reaches into the deep-rooted governing practices of our nation and, by extension, of all nations that either observe the common law tradition or that are heirs to the Westminster parliamentary system.
Congratulations to Professor Daly on this important achievement!