On this day · archive
The ruling that made a clear vote only the beginning
On August 20, 1998, Canada’s Supreme Court ruled that Quebec could not secede unilaterally. A clear democratic mandate would carry weight, but lawful separation would require constitutional negotiation.
8
events in todayish file
1998
Canada’s Supreme Court rules on the constitutional path for Quebec secession.
The judgment rejected a unilateral exit while recognizing that a clear majority on a clear question would create a duty to negotiate.
The Supreme Court of Canada rejected a simple equation between referendum victory and unilateral secession. A province could not leave the federation lawfully by acting alone.
The judgment also refused the opposite simplification. A clear majority on a clear question would carry democratic legitimacy and impose a reciprocal duty on the other participants in Confederation to negotiate.
August 20 records a ruling built around both limit and obligation. The law closed the unilateral route while leaving constitutional change to principled negotiation among governments and the people they represent.
The full record
8 entries from the day’s archive, filed year by year with a note on what each one leaves behind.
Joe Biden gives his acceptance speech virtually for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
A virtual acceptance speech reflected how the pandemic altered a major U.S. political convention.
Politics
Fifty-four people are killed when a suicide bomber detonates himself at a Kurdish wedding party in Gaziantep, Turkey.
The bombing struck a wedding party and killed dozens, turning celebration into mourning.
Violence
Seventy-two people are killed in Japan's Hiroshima Prefecture by a series of landslides caused by a month's worth of rain that fell in one day.
Exceptional rain triggered landslides that devastated communities in Hiroshima Prefecture.
Disaster
A prison riot in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, kills at least 20 people.
The prison riot exposed deadly conditions inside the Caracas facility.
Violence
China Airlines Flight 120 catches fire and explodes after landing at Naha Airport in Okinawa, Japan.
The aircraft burned after landing, while the evacuation prevented fatalities.
Disaster
A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi embassy in Berlin, Germany for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.
The embassy takeover ended after five hours with hostages released and the group surrendering.
Politics
The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
The ruling set constitutional conditions for any attempt by Quebec to secede.
Law
Estonia, occupied by and incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, issues a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of legal continuity of its pre-occupation statehood.
The decision restored Estonia’s independence through the principle of legal continuity.
Independence