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Chris Hunt

Professor

BA (Mt. Allison), LLB (Manitoba), LLM (Cambridge), PhD (Cambridge)

Dr. Hunt is a Full Professor at TRU Law. He earned his LLM and PhD from Cambridge University, clerked for the Justices of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, and practiced commercial litigation in Vancouver. He has received the Teaching Excellence Prize from the Student Law Society multiple times (2013; 2014; 2022; 2024), the University-wide Faculty Excellence Award in recognition of “outstanding teaching contributions” (2019), and the University-wide President’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship (2018).

Dr. Hunt’s primary research interest concerns the law of privacy, especially in the tort context. This scholarship has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the British Columbia Supreme Court, and in Law Reform Commission reports in Australia, New Zealand, Ontario, and the European Parliament. He received the David Watson Prize from Queen’s Faculty of Law for two articles judged to make the “most significant contribution to legal scholarship” in 2013. His work on privacy has appeared in Cambridge Law Journal, Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, Oxford University Comparative Law Forum, McGill Law Journal, Queen’s Law Journal, Alberta Law Review, and the Supreme Court Law Review. He recently edited a book, The Last Frontier: Digital Privacy and the Charter (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2021) with R. Diab, and is the author of the monograph Search & Seizure (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2023), also with R. Diab.

Dr. Hunt’s second research interest concerns the law of obligations, especially contract law, unjust enrichment, and equitable wrongdoing. This scholarship has been cited by the Supreme Court of Canada, and the Quebec Court of Appeal, and has appeared in Cambridge Law Journal, Oxford University Comparative Law Forum, Intellectual Property Quarterly, UBC Law Review, Supreme Court Law Review, and the Canadian Business Law Journal.

Dr. Hunt also writes about the law of evidence and has published several papers in the International Journal of Evidence & Proof and Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal. He recently edited a book Perspectives on Evidentiary Privileges (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2019). His evidence scholarship has been cited by the Ontario Court of Appeal, the Quebec Court of Appeal, the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

From 2013-2022, along with Professors Robert Diab (TRU Law) and Lorne Neudorf (La Trobe Law School), Dr. Hunt was Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law, a thematic academic law review that publishes scholarly essays annually concentrating on different legal topics.

 Publications
Books
  1. Hunt and R. Diab, Search and Seizure (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2023)
  2. Hunt and R. Diab (eds.), The Last Frontier:DigitalPrivacy and the Charter (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2021)
  3. Hunt (ed.), Perspectives on Evidentiary Privileges(Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2019), Foreword by Justice Sheilah Martin, Supreme Court of Canada
  4. Hunt, L. Neudorf and M. Rankin(eds.),Legislating Statutory Interpretation: Perspectives from the Common Law World(Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2018), Foreword by Justice Thomas Cromwell, Supreme Court of Canada (ret.)
  5. Hunt, L. Neudorf and M. Rankin, The Guide to the British Columbia Interpretation Act(Toronto: Carswell, 2017), Foreword by Justice Elizabeth Arnold-Bailey, British Columbia Supreme Court (ret.)
Articles, Chapters & Comments
  1. C. Hunt, “Unconscionability in the Supreme Court of Canada: Uber Technologies Inc. v Heller” (2021) 80:1 Cambridge Law Journal 25
  2. C. Hunt, “The Problem of Offeree Silence: Implied Contract or Unjust Enrichment?” (2021) 65 Canadian Business Law Journal 251
  3. C. Hunt, “Voyeurism and the Charter: A Comment on the Supreme Court of Canada’s Privacy Principles in R v Jarvis” in C. Hunt and R. Diab (eds.), The Last Frontier: Digital Privacy and the Charter (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2021)
  4. C. Hunt, “Unconscionability Three Ways: Unfairness, Consent and Exploitation” (2020) 96 Supreme Court Law Review 37—invited paper from proceedings of Canadian Law of Obligations Conference II, UNB Law; also published in H. Young, ed. The Canadian Law of Obligations: Access to Justice (Toronto: LexisNexis, 2020)
    • Cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in Uber Technologies Inc. v Heller, 2020 SCC 16
  5. C. Hunt, “Rethinking Marital Privilege” in C. Hunt (ed.), Perspectives on Evidential Privileges (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2019)
  6. C. Hunt, L. Neudorf and M. Rankin, “Legislating Statutory Interpretation: The Parliamentary Regulation of Judicial Discretion” in C. Hunt, L. Neudorf, and M. Rankin (eds.), Legislating Statutory Interpretation: Perspectives from the Common Law World (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2018)
  7. C. Hunt and M. Javdan, “Apparitions of Doctrines Past? Fundamental Breach and Exculpatory Clauses in the Post-Tercon Jurisprudence” (2018) 60 Canadian Business Law Journal 309
    • Cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in Uber Technologies Inc. v Heller, 2020 SCC 16
    • Cited by the Quebec Court of Appeal, 6362222 Canada inc. c. Prelco inc., 2019 QCCA 1457
  8. C. Hunt, “Reasonable Expectations of Privacy Under Canada’s Statutory Privacy Torts” (2018) 84 Supreme Court Law Review 269—invited paper from proceedings of Canadian Law of Obligations Conference I, UBC Law; also published in M. Hall, ed, The Canadian Law of Obligations: Private Law for the 21st Century (Toronto: LexisNexis, 2018).
  9. C. Hunt and M. Rankin, “R. v. Bradshaw: The Principled Exception to Hearsay Revisited” (2017) 22(1) International Journal of Evidence & Proof 68
    • Cited by Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, R v TS, 2022 ABKB 819
    • Cited by Quebec Court of Appeal, Charles v R, 2022 QCCA 1013
    • Cited by Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, Superport Marine Services Ltd v Balodis Inc, 2021 NSSC
    • Cited by Ontario Court of Appeal, R v Tsega, 2019 ONCA 111; and R v McMorris, 2020 ONCA 844
  10. C. Hunt, “Halley v McCann: Reflections on the Development of Ontario’s Tort for the Wrongful Disclosure of Private Information” (2017) 14 Canadian Privacy Law Review 148
  11. C. Hunt and N. Shirazian, “Canada’s Statutory Privacy Torts in Commonwealth Perspective” (2016) Oxford University Comparative Law Forum 3
    • Cited in Douez v Facebook Inc, 2022 BCSC 914
  12. C. Hunt and L. Neudorf, “The Expert Witness’s Duty of Impartiality” (2016) 20 International Journal of Evidence & Proof 72
  13. C. Hunt, “Wilkinson v Downton Revisited” (2015) 74:3 Cambridge Law Journal 392
  14. C. Hunt and M. Rankin, “Anonymity, the Rule of Law and the Shriveling Biographical Core” (2015) 61: 1 McGill Law Journal 193
    • Cited by the Law Commission for New Zealand in Final Report: Review of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012, Report 141, Wellington, NZ, Ministry of Justice, June 2017, at fn. 83.
    • Cited by the Ontario Court of Appeal in Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario v. York Regional District School Board, 2022 ONCA 476
  15. C. Hunt, “The Common Law’s Hodgepodge Protection of Privacy” (2015) 66 University of New Brunswick Law Journal 161—invited paper as part of symposium on privacy law
    • Cited by Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Hategan v Farber, 2021 ONSC 874
    • Cited by Ontario Law Commission Consultation Research Paper, ‘Defamation Law in the Internet Age’ (November 2017), at fns. 124, 686, 708.
  16. C. Hunt and L. Hamill, “Building the Pyramid: Unjust Factors and Juristic Reasons in the Decade Following Garland v Consumers’ Gas” (2015) 57:1 Canadian Business Law Journal 58—invited paper as part of symposium on unjust enrichment law
  17. C. Hunt, “Good Faith Performance in Canadian Contract Law” (2015) 74:1 Cambridge Law Journal 4
  18. C. Hunt and M. Rankin, “A New Common Law Confessions Rule” (2014) 14:2 Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 321
  19. C. Hunt, “From Right to Wrong: Grounding a ‘Right’ to Privacy in the ‘Wrongs’ of Tort” (2015) 52:3 Alberta Law Review 635
  20. C. Hunt and C. Bell, “Employer Monitoring of Online Employee Conduct Outside the Workplace: Not Taking Privacy Seriously?” (2014) 18(2) Canadian Labour and Employment Law Journal 411
  21. C. Hunt, “The Future of Privacy: The Conflict with Free Speech” (2014) 43:3 Advocates’ Quarterly 391
  22. C. Hunt, “Privacy in New Zealand’s Civil Law” (2014) New Zealand Law Journal 286
  23. C. Hunt, “Mens Rea, Breach of Confidence and the Implications for England’s Privacy ‘Tort’” (2013) 72 Cambridge Law Journal 504
  24. C. Hunt and M. Rankin, “R. v. Baldree: Hearsay by Implication” (2014) 18 International Journal of Evidence & Proof 181
  25. C. Hunt, “New Zealand's New Privacy Tort in Comparative Perspective” (2013) 13:1 Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 157
  26. C. Hunt, “Privacy in the Common Law: A Critical Appraisal of the Ontario Court of Appeal’s Decision in Jones v. Tsige” (2012) 37:2 Queen's Law Journal 665
    • David Watson Memorial Award, for article published in the QLJ judged to make the 'most significant contribution to legal scholarship'
    • Quoted by the Australian Law Reform Commission Final Report on ‘Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era’, June 2014, at para.5.84
  27. C. Hunt, “Balancing the Right to Privacy and Freedom of Speech: A European Perspective” (2012) 9 Canadian Privacy Law Review 117
  28. C. Hunt, “Contempt of Court and the Internet” (2012) 71 Cambridge Law Journal 24
  29. C. Hunt, “Conceptualizing Privacy and Elucidating its Importance: Foundational Considerations for the Development of Canada’s Fledgling Privacy Tort” (2011) 37:1 Queen’s Law Journal 167
    • David Watson Memorial Award, for article published in the QLJ judged to make the 'most significant contribution to legal scholarship'
    • Quoted by the Supreme Court of Canada in Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner) v. United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 401, 2013 SCC 62
    • Cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Spencer, 2014 SCC 43
    • Cited in ICBC v Ari, 2013 BCCA 331
  30. C. Hunt, “Strasbourg on Privacy Injunctions” (2011) 70 Cambridge Law Journal 489
  31. C. Hunt, “Constitutional Damages in the Supreme Court of Canada” (2011) 7 Cambridge Student Law Review 115
  32. C. Hunt, “Rethinking Surreptitious Takings in the Law of Confidence” (2011) Intellectual Property Quarterly 66
  33. C. Hunt, “The Decline of Juristic Reasons? Unjust Enrichment and the Supreme Court of Canada” (2010) 43 University of British Columbia Law Review 173
  34. C. Hunt, “England’s Common Law Action for the Misuse of Private Information: Some Negative and Positive Lessons for Canada” (2010) 7 Canadian Privacy Law Review 113
  35. C. Hunt, “The Civilian Orientation of Canadian Unjust Enrichment Law: A Reply to Professor McCamus” (2010) 43 Canadian Business Law Journal 498
  36. C. Hunt, “Malicious Prosecution Refined by the Supreme Court of Canada: Miazga v. Kvello Estate” (2010) 6 Cambridge Student Law Review 321
  37. C. Hunt, “The Contributorily Negligent Beneficiary” (2010) 68 The Advocate 373
  38. C. Hunt, “Unjust Enrichment as Absence of Basis: A Critical Evaluation with Lessons from Canada” (2009) Oxford University Comparative Law Forum 6
  39. C. Hunt, “Is There a Rule Against Impeaching Witnesses With Their Own Affidavits?” (2008) 66 The Advocate 701
  40. C. Hunt and Hon. Justice M. Gropper, “Judicial Review of Labour Arbitration Awards in British Columbia” (2007) National Judicial Institute 3
Book Reviews
  1. C. Hunt, "Review of R. Krotoszynski, Privacy Revisited" (2017) 6:1 Canadian Journal of Human Rights 197.
  2. C. Hunt, "Review of R. Wacks, Privacy and Media Freedom" (2014), 73 Cambridge Law Journal 649
  3. C. Hunt, "Review of P. O’Callaghan, Refining Privacy in Tort Law" (2014) 73 Cambridge Law Journal 178
    • Quoted by the Australian Law Reform Commission Final Report on 'Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era', June 2014, at para. 5.27
  4. C. Hunt, "Review of Gurry on Breach of Confidence: The Protection of Confidential Information (2nd)" (2012) 53:2 Canadian Business Law Journal 298
Edited Journal Collections

Editor-in-Chief, Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law (2013–Present); Website

  1. (2022) 8 Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law, ‘Charting the Future of Legal Education’ (350 pp. approx
  2. (2021) 7 Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law, ‘Democratic Decay: Constitutionalism and Challenges for the Rule of Law’ (450 pp, approx.)

  3. (2020) 6 Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law, 'Issues Affecting the Charitable and Non-Profit Landscape' (300 pp, approx.)

  4. (2019) 5 Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law, 'Beyond Humanity: New Frontiers in Animal Law' (400pp. approx.), Foreword by Senator Murray Sinclair, Senate of Canada
  5. (2018) 4 Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law, 'Privacy, Identity, and Control: Emerging Issues in Data Protection' (350 pp. approx.), Foreword by Justice Abella, Supreme Court of Canada
  6. (2017) 3 Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law, 'Problems of Interpretation in International Law', Foreword by Justice LeBel, Supreme Court of Canada (ret.)
  7. (2016) 2 Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law, 'Equity in the 21st Century: Problems and Perspectives' Issues 1 & 2 (750 pp. approx.), Foreword by Justice Russell Brown, Supreme Court of Canada
  8. (2015) 1 Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law, 'Health Law and Human Rights' Foreword by Dean Lorne Sossin, Osgoode Hall

 

Chris Hunt
Contact

Office: OM 4769
Email:
chunt@tru.ca
Phone:
778-471-8359

Courses
  • Contract Law (LAWF 3030)
  • Canadian Journal of Comparative and Contemporary Law (LAWF 3990)
  • Evidence (LAWF 3920)
  • Unjust Enrichment (LAWF 3650)