"with Respect ..." - Levels of Disagreement on the Lamer Court 1990-2000‪.‬

Patterns of agreement and disagreement are important in highlighting various dimensions of judicial performance. This article studies the patterns of disagreement of the Supreme Court of Canada under the leadership of Chief Justice Antonio Lamer and considers the effects of judicial disagreement in deriding the role and evaluating the performance of the Court. The author uses the broad term "disagreement" to refer to dissents and separate concurrences, both of which can be instances of serious disagreement. The author demonstrates that at the international level, there is no generally established institutional norm for the frequency and severity of disagreement on national high courts. In considering the design of the Supreme Court, it becomes evident that the Court's visible level of disagreement is an institutionally driven choice, despite the fact that the disagreement is embodied in the expressions of Individuals.