ABSTRACT
This article contributes to a counter-narrative about the jurisprudence of Supreme Court of Canada Justice Russell Brown by examining how some of his private law judgments advance egalitarian values and social justice. While Justice Brown’s constitutional equality decisions have attracted sustained criticism for allegedly undermining substantive equality under section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, his private law jurisprudence reveals a different and largely overlooked commitment to equality. Justice Brown’s rejection of the ‘recognized psychiatric illness’ requirement for recovery of mental injury damages in Saadati v Moorhead dismantled a doctrine rooted in stereotypes and stigma surrounding mental illness. Drawing on Justice Brown’s doctoral dissertation and his concurring reasons in Uber Technologies Inc v Heller, I sketch a framework for explaining how public values, including Charter values, can legitimately influence private law while remaining faithful to private law’s internal structure of correlative rights and duties. I show how by applying this framework Saadati implements the Charter value of equality in private relations by recognizing psychological integrity as a distinctive juridical interest deserving protection equal to physical integrity. The decision demonstrates how private law can challenge discriminatory social assumptions and promote inclusion without abandoning its distinctive commitment to interpersonal justice.
Sangiuliano, Anthony, Justice Brown’s Private Law Egalitarianism (October 22, 2025), (2026) 10 Supreme Court Law Review (3d Series).
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