Preface

• Author: Sanjeev Anand
• Pages: 7-8

vii

Preface

In  , I was worki ng with Nicholas Bala, a d istinguished professor of law

at Q ueen’s Un iversity, on a par ticularly dicult project: a book analyzi ng

six years of jurisprudence under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. For us, the

challenge lay not in the complex subject maer but i n the precarious health

in which Nick found himself that sprin g. Nick had been diagnosed with stage

four metastatic mela noma. Because the cancer had spread to hi s liver, Nick’s

physicians recom mended potentially dangerous s urgery, to be followed by a

year of chemotherapy. He advi sed me that even with this tre atment, which

he did undertak e successfully, the media n life expecta ncy statistics were not

very encouraging. Nevertheless , Nick fervently desired to nish the book

project that we had begu n. Somehow he found the strength and w ill to com-

plete the manuscript w ith me, and Irwin Law publ ished the book in Septem-

ber .

During my disc ussions about that book with Jerey Miller, the president

of I rwin Law, Je suggested that the time was r ipe to publish a collection

of essays honour ing Nick’s massive contribution to the a rea of children and

the law. When Je ask ed if I would solicit these essay s, arrange for their peer

review, and edit the col lection, I readily agree d.

e impressive collection of essays contained in this volume mirrors

much of Nicholas Bala’s own vast scholarship. e papers address various

issues concern ing children within the context of crim inal, fam ily, evidence,