Bodies & Law: comparative research between Belgium and Canada
The "Bodies & Law" research project, led by both Prof. Frédéric Bouhon (ULiège) and Prof. Mariève Lacroix (University of Ottawa), aims to significantly upgrade the understanding of bodily rights through a comparative study between Belgian and Canadian laws. The Liège-Ottawa “Mirror Chair” provides an ideal framework for carrying out such a research, given the complementary fields of expertise of its members and their ongoing solid academic collaboration.
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Canadian and Belgian (and, more broadly, European) case law provides a significant amount of judicial decisions concerning one’s right to control his or her own body. Recent judgments show the continuing evolution of this right. The scientific literature is also packed with works and studies on the concept of bodily autonomy and its legal implications. The “Laws and bodies” research program is to be led in this very prolific environment, as it seeks to explore and analyse the legal constraints imposed by public authorities on the bodies of individuals in Belgium and Canada. On the basis of fundamental charters such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the study aims to point out the limitations that fundamental rights seem to impose on the coercive powers of the States. <Bioethical issues raised by the right to personal autonomy, such as one’s right to bodily autonomy, to transform it or even to end one's life, will be addressed in depth. Comparisons between Belgium and Canada will certainly show some promising results, as they concern legal systems that have been conceived differently in different cultural contexts: the common law system developed in Canada sensibly differs from the civil law systems present in continental Europe and seems to allow a more flexible legal approach to the human body.
As previously mentioned, this project will be carried out within the framework of a 'mirror chair' between the University of Liège and the University of Ottawa. The chair will be co-directed by Frédéric Bouhon, Professor of Law in the Faculty of Law, Political Science and Criminology at ULiège, specialised in matters of fundamental and human rights, and Mariève Lacroix, Professor of Law in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa, specialised in the fields of personal rights and legal theory. Other members of these faculties, as well as interested researchers from other universities, will also be involved in the project.
Three main areas of research
The “Mirror Chair” research programme is intended to focus on three main areas, which we will refer to as different types of bodies :
- The constrained body or the way it can be prevented from moving: this area of research will address various types of constraints to which the human body may be subjected. A sick or disabled body, for example, may not move as freely as one might expect, while an imprisoned or isolated body retains all its abilities but is subjected to external constraints. How do the currents of legal thought in the 21st century perceive these constraints on individual autonomy? How does the law help those who suffer from internal restrictions, and how does it justify external constraints? The research team will compare the protections offered by the Canadian Charter, on one side, and by the European Convention on Human Rights or the Belgian Constitution, on the other side.
- The mutant body or the way it undergoes metamorphosis: in this part of the project, the issues surrounding bodily transformations, in particular gender-affirming operations, and their current legal framework, particularly for under age citizens, will be examined. Some transformations, which require major physical surgery, are particularly motivated by the desire to improve one's appearance or to align one's perceived gender with one's sexual appearance. How does the law allow or regulate these transformations? How does it govern the issues surrounding death, the ultimate transformation of the body?
- The relational body or the way it connects, with others or with itself: this area aims to explore legal issues relating to the body seen as a the centre of different types of relationships. First and foremost, a person has a relationship with his or her own body, but the body is also a vital element when it comes to relationships with others. What obstacles does the law impose on the development of these relationships, whether they are internal or external? For what explicit or implicit reasons? This part of the project also deals with reproductive rights and sexual freedom, including surrogacy and the right to abortion, in the light of international, constitutional, legislative and case law developments.
Method and provisional timetable
The Mirror Chair, which will be officially launched in December 2024 in Ottawa, will imply the coordination of the research agendas of the two universities : in this prospect, some selected topics will be studied simultaneously each year for three years. The results of the research will be published jointly in both countries, to ensure that the work is widely recognised and to appeal to the broadest possible audience. The law faculties of Liège and Ottawa already share tight connections. The two chairholders have known each other and worked together for almost ten years, and they intend to strengthen the transatlantic collaboration between their respective universities through the dynamic of this new project.
