On the puzzling death of the sanctity-of-life argument
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Date
2020
Authors
Stevens, Katharina
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Abstract
The passage of time influences the content of the law and therefore also the validity of legal arguments. This is true even for charter-arguments, despite the widely held view that constitutional law is made to last. In this paper, I investigate the reason why the sanctity-of life argument against physician assisted suicide lost its validity between the Supreme Court decision in Rodriguez v. British Columbia in 1993 and Carter v. Canada in 2015. I suggest that a rhetorical approach to argument evaluation is the best basis for a satisfying explanation
Description
Accepted author manuscript
Keywords
Constitutional law , Charter interpretation , Argument validity , Time , Universal audience , Waluchow , Living tree constitutionalism , Common-law constitutionalism , Sanctity-of-life , Physician assisted suicide
Citation
Stevens, K. (2020). On the puzzling death of the sanctity-of-life argument. Argumentation, 34, 55.81. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10503-019-09491-1