Justice Laskin was a strong centralist, they usually took opposing views on federalism issues. James MacPherson, former Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, has summarised the Beetz-Laskin debates: "The result was that constitutional lawyers, academics, and students were regularly treated to two scholarly, beautifully reasoned, and eloquent — but in the end — opposing judgments. Put simply, Professors Laskin and Beetz, as Chief Justice and Justice, elevated the level of discourse in Canadian constitutional law." Reference re Anti-Inflation Act One of Beetz's most significant decisions was his dissenting opinion in Reference re Anti-Inflation Act. The case concerned a federal statute which implemented wage and price controls during a time of high inflation. The issue was whether the federal Parliament had the authority to pass the Act, under the emergency branch of the federal peace, order and good government power. Beetz wrote a lengthy decision outlining the doctrinal basis for the emergency branch, and concluded that the Act did not meet the necessary strict test for federal legislation under this power. The other justices of the Court disagreed with his conclusion, and upheld the constitutional validity of the federal Act. However, they agreed with his interpretation of the emergency branch. As a result, Beetz's outline of the emergency branch is now the standard analysis. James MacPherson has stated that Beetz's opinion is "... the single best written judgment in a distribution of powers case in the history of Canadian constitutional law." Patriation Reference Beetz also participated in the 1981 Patriation Reference, which considered Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's attempt to have the federal government unilaterally patriate the Constitution of Canada without the consent of the provinces. By a 7-2 division, a majority of the Court held that Parliament had the legal authority to act unilaterally. However, by a division of 6-3, the Court also held that unilateral federal action would violate a constitutional convention that had emerged since Confederation, requiring substantial provincial agreement on constitutional amendments. Beetz, along with the other two judges from Quebec and Justice Dickson, was in the majority on both issues: he agreed that Parliament had the legal authority to act unilaterally, but also agreed that a constitutional convention required a substantive degree of provincial agreement for major constitutional amendments. Partial list of judgments Reference re Anti-Inflation Act (1976) (dissent) Société des Acadiens v. Association of Parents (1986) (majority) Beauregard v. Canada (1986) (dissent) Later life Beetz retired