Mr. Ford’s move to override the constitution provoked strong criticism from across the political spectrum, including from some prominent members of his own party, the Progressive Conservatives. But there is no question that the constitution gave him the rarely used power to ignore what the courts and the constitution itself say.

After the dust died down a bit this week, I dipped into The Times’s digital archives to look back at how we reported on the talks that created the 1982 constitution, including, to use The Times’s preferred description, its override measure.

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A bit of condensed history for readers outside of Canada (Canadians, please skip ahead): The keystone of Canada’s constitution when the country was created in 1867 was a piece of British law. Britain gave Canada full political autonomy in 1931, except for one thing: because Canada had not come up with its own constitution, Britain continued to hold the power to amend the country’s constitution.