Apology Accepted: How the Apology Act Reveals the Law's Deference to the Power of Apologetic Discourse
Author | Claire Truesdale |
Position | Is a J.D. Candidate in her third year at the University of Victoria |
Pages | 83-96 |
APPEAL VOLUM E 17
!
83
AR T I C L E
APOLOGY ACCEPTED: HOW THE APOLOGY
ACT REVEALS THE LAW’S DEFERENCE TO
THE POWER OF APOLOGETIC DISCOURSE
By Claire Truesdale*
CITED: (2012) 17 Appeal 83-96
INTRODUCTION
“I’m sorry” is an incredibly versatile and power ful phrase. More tha n an expression of
simple sorrow, these words of apology a re a socia l action, a nd thei r impact c an range
from resolving an accidenta l bump between pedestrians, to hea ling a deep interpersonal
rift, to reconciling a div ided nation. It is this power - this function of apology as a mora l
and so cial actor - which justi fies its protect ion from interference by another powerfu l
social and moral actor: the law. British Columbia’s Apolog y Act1 safeguards apologetic
discourse from the often corruptive force of law that can limit, commodify, or discourage
apology. In so doing, the Apology Act reveals an insta nce of the law’s humility. By carving
out a safe space for alternative methods of negotiati ng human disputes, we see t he law’s
implicit ad mission that there are instances in which apology has a superior ability to
reinforce mora l standards and reconcile damaged social relations. We se e a moment of
the law embracing an exception to the basic pri nciples of evidence, in order to privilege
the importa nt social and moral work of apolog y over the law’s relentlessly logic al quest
for truth. is paper wil l demonstrate the ways in which apology i s often superior to the
law in navigati ng the realms of the moral a nd social and how it must be protected from
the powerfu l influence of the law in order to safeguard a discursive process that is vital
to a civil society.
I. THE NATURE OF APOLOGY
Although most pe ople may think of a n “apology” as simply “ being sorry”, scholars have
argued t hat true apology contains much more t han a simple statement of the speaker’s
regret. Definitions of apology in the literature of sociology, psychology and law var y, but
share many commonalities. Psycholi nguists Scher and Darley identified four elements of
* Claire Truesdale is a J.D. Candidate in her third ye ar at the University of Victoria . She also has a
B.A. from Simon Frase r University in English Literature with a m inor in Biological Sciences. Clai re
would like to thank Professor Benjam in Berger for his critical feedbac k and encouragement to
pursue publication, an d David Girard for his valuable comments a nd editing.
1. Apology Act, SBC 200 6, c 19. The Apology Act is a piece of provincial legisl ation and applies only
in British Columbia, however simila r legislation exists elsewhere i n Canada. See e.g. Apology
Act, SO 2009, c 3. As only the feder al government has jurisdiction over cri minal law, this statute
would only apply to civil and re gulatory matters (see Sec tion II for a brief discussion of the law ’s
application).
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