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Faculty of Law

James Hamilton Tully

Emeritus and Adjunct Professor

Contact:
250-381-0927
Credentials:
BA (UBC), PhD (Cambridge)
Area of expertise:
Legal and political theory and practice: constitutionalism, legal pluralism, common and Indigenous Law, treaty relationships, entangled relations, democracy and ecosystems.

Biography

My teaching and research is in the area of legal and political theory & practice: constitutionalism, legal pluralism, Common and Indigenous Law, treaty relationships, entangled relations among law, democracy and ecosystems, and especially individual and collective human agency within them (civil and civic citizenship). It is based on a dialogical approach to public philosophy oriented to ongoing peaceful reconciliation with each other and the living earth.

Prior to joining UVic Political Science & Law in 1996 I was Professor of Political Science, Philosophy & Law at McGill University (1977-1995), and then the first Henry Jackman Distinguished Professor of Philosophical Studies in Political Science, Philosophy & Law, University of Toronto (2001-2003). I was Chair of Political Science 1996-2001, assisted Taiaiake Alfred in founding and teaching the Indigenous Governance Program (IGOV) 1996-2001, and assisted in building and teaching in the Graduate and JD/JID Programs in Law from 2003 onward.

Education

  • BA (Political Science), University of British Columbia
  • PhD (Intellectual History) Cambridge University

Selected publications

Selected publications as Emeritus Professor (2014-2025)

  • “Sustainable Democratic Constitutionalism and Climate Crisis,” McGill Law Journal Annual Lecture, March 2020, Vol. 65, 3, pp. 545–572.
  • Alexander Livingston (ed.), James Tully: To Think and Act Differently (2023)
  • James Tully, Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach, and others (editors and contributors), Dialogue and Decolonization: Historical, Philosophical, and Political Perspectives (2023)
  • Dimitrios Karmis, Jocelyn Maclure, and others (editors and contributors), The Public Philosophy of James Tully; Civic Freedom in an Age of Diversity (2023)
  • James Tully and others (editors and contributors), Democratic Multiplicity: Perceiving, Enacting, and Integrating Democratic Diversity (2022)
  • James Tully, John Borrows, Michael Asch (editors and contributors), Resurgence and Reconciliation: Indigenous-Settler Relations and Earth Teachings (2018)
  • James Tully (editor and introduction), Richard Gregg, The Power of Nonviolence (2018)
  • David Owen (editor), On Global Citizenship: James Tully in Dialogue (2014)
  • Robert Nichols and Jakeet Singh (editors), Dialogues with James Tully: Freedom and Democracy in an Imperial Context (2014)
  • James Tully, Strange Multiplicity: Constitutionalism in an Age Diversity (1995) — awarded the APSA Benjamin Lippincott Award in 2024

Recognition and awards

  • FRSC
  • Trudeau Fellow
  • APSA Benjamin Lippincott Award 2024