Fundamental Justice

Fundamental justice is a doctrine in Canadian and New Zealand law describing the basic fairness that a justice system must provide, covering both procedural rights such as a fair hearing and substantive standards such as a rule against impermissibly vague legislation. Courts apply it contextually: the greater the effect on the rights of the person affected, the stronger the procedural or substantive protection required, though a process need only be fundamentally fair to the person affected rather than perfectly balance every competing interest in society. The phrase entered Canadian law in section 2(e) of the 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights, guaranteeing a fair hearing in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice, chosen deliberately over the older phrase natural justice. Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms constitutionalized the concept in 1982, and the 1985 case Re BC Motor Vehicle Act broadened it from a procedural guarantee into a wider doctrine covering substantive rights as well.