Preface to the fourth edition

• Author: M.H. Ogilvie
• Pages: 15-16

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PREFACE

To the Fourth Edition

This fourth edition of Religious Institutions a nd the Law in Canada is also

the twentieth anniversary edition, since the f‌irst edition was published

in 1996. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to produce another edi-

tion twenty years later. Since that f‌ir st edition, better legal scholars than

I have now produced f‌ine books and articles on the interface between

law and religion in Canada; I salute their accomplishments from which

I have (despite many appearances to the contrary) learned much and

know that in the years ahead the subject will f‌lourish and mature. A

clerical acquaintance once described earlier editions of this book as the

“Authorized Version,” and while I found the allusion to the King James

Bible amusing (if not a little blasphemous), I know that there will

be ma ny, more insightful translat ions of the law in the f uture. Recorded

history amply shows that conf‌licts of law and religion are perennial, if

not eternal, and while in Canada we have been blessed with religious

peace as we move toward a more religiously pluralistic future, great

vigilance, care, and thoughtfulness are constantly required to ensure

that we continue to enjoy the peace, order, and good government our

founders wisely proclaimed.

On re-reading the prefaces to the earlier three editions, I f‌ind that

I have nothing new to add and adopt all that I have written before. I

continue to be grateful to our courts for providing much to t hink about,

our legal scholars for thoughtful and constructive critiques, and, more

immediately, those who have assisted me in the past and present. The

law is stated to 1 August 2016 with later additions where possible.