James C Morton
Retrospective effect
R. v. Dineley, 2012 SCC 58, one of the two impaired cases released today, has a helpful passage on retrospectivity: There are a number of rules of interpretation that can…
Impaired driving in the Supreme Court
In a 5-2 split decision, the Supreme Court has thrown out two provisions put into the law by the Conservative government’s 2008 Tackling Violent Crime Act. Those changes required that…
Who in the Bible had no parents?
Joshua, son of Nun.
The real lesson from Ashley Smith
Ashley Smith’s death and more the videos of her being brutalized while in custody have led to much handwringing among the chattering classes. The theme seems to be that people…
Inuit Woman Using Knife (1968)
Kathleen Pepper
Wilful blindness at Penn State?
Wilful blindness is very different from carelessness or negligence. To be wilfully blind an accused has to “know” what is going on but decide to ignore it — it is…
Paralegal recommendations
Recommendation 1: That the Law Society continues to pursue elimination of exclusions to its regulation that cannot be justified in terms of facilitating access to justice and/or protection of the…
Standard of review on sentence appeals
R. v. Zachary Evans-Renaud 2012 PECA 21 gives a helpful summary of the standard of review on sentence appeals: Standard of Review The standard of review to be applied by…
If the facts are against you argue the law
If the law is against you, pound the table and yell like hell!
Bay Street law firm uses fingerprint technology to monitor employees’ comings and goings
The days of sneaking out for three-hour lunch breaks will soon be over at a Bay Street law firm after it decided to install fingerprint-scanning technology to monitor its employees’…
Attempting to obstruct justice is a substantive offence of specific intent
R v Yazelle, 2012 SKCA 91 is a good source for the holding that the offence of attempting to obstruct justice pursuant to s. 139(2) of the Criminal Code is…
Plea negotiations are generally privileged
R. v. Zarinchang, 2010 ONCA 286 holds: We pause to note that plea negotiations are generally privileged in the sense that the information disclosed will not be used against the…
Nunavut cabinet minister violated Integrity Act, says report
Nunavut’s integrity commissioner has found cabinet minister Fred Schell violated the Integrity Act in six of nine allegations made earlier this year. Schell is the MLA for South Baffin and…
Legally married spouse privileged for pension death benefit
Carrigan v. Carrigan Estate, 2012 ONCA 736 decides who receives the pension death benefit when the member of a pension plan entitled to a deferred pension dies and is survived…
Adequacy of reasons
R. v. P.J.B., 2012 ONCA 730 has a helpful review of the adequacy of jury instructions (and by implication reasons for judgment) and the duty to review evidence: Basic principles…
Abuse of process before administrative tribunals
S. v. College, 2012 ONCA 727 is a sad case. That said, it makes clear that delay in bringing administrative proceedings will not amount to abuse of process unless prejudice…