Bail is not jail
R v Ijam, 2007 ONCA 597, O.J. No. 3395, at paras. 36-37: Fourth, I do not accept the proposition that bail, even with stringent conditions, and pre-trial custody are to…
James C Morton
Sentencing the Aboriginal Offender
In Canadian law people of Aboriginal background face a different sentencing regime than other Canadians. The Criminal Code provides for restraint in the use of imprisonment for Aboriginal offenders. The…
Failure to testify may be considered in determining guilt
R. v. J.N., 2015 NUCJ 29: Section 4 of the Canada Evidence Act, RSC 1985, C c-5, prohibits a judge or prosecutor from commenting to a jury on the failure…
Volkswagen owners want payback as emissions-cheating scandal explodes
How liable is VW? Well returning a car you have driven for several years just is not the law in Canada. There has been a value to the vehicle even…
Credit for Guilty Plea
R. v. Carreira, 2015 ONCA 639: In R. v. Faulds, (1994) 20 O.R. (3d) 13, this court made it clear that the amount of credit a guilty plea attracts will…
Crowded
Of the Law Societies of Upper Canada and Nunavut
Relief from Forfeiture
Dube v. RBC Life Insurance Company, 2015 ONCA 641: Thus the central issue on the motion was whether Dube was entitled to relief from forfeiture under s. 98 of the…
Elements of a Defamation Case
Frank v. Legate, 2015 ONCA 631: In Grant v. Torstar Corp., 2009 SCC 61, 3 S.C.R. 640, at para. 28, the Supreme Court of Canada held that a plaintiff must…
What is a pretrial
In almost all disputed cases, whether criminal, family, civil or administrative there will be a pretrial. The pretrial always serves the same purposes – to see if a case is…
Employee Theft
Employee theft is a big problem in Canada. One in ten small business failures are a result of employee theft and overall Canadian businesses lose over a billion dollars yearly…
After offence conduct
R. v. Hill, 2015 ONCA 616 is a good case saying that, in general, after offence conduct is not relevant to distinguish between manslaughter and murder
Delay in child welfare cases
C.M. v. Children’s Aid Society of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, 2015 ONCA 612: Where a statute requires that events occur within a specified time frame, it is simply unacceptable…
Mediation
The Justice system has a history premised on conflict. The parties battle each other through trial and a single victor emerges as winner. A person charged with a crime is…
Enforcement of foreign judgments
Chevron Corp. v. Yaiguaje 2015 SCC 42 holds, perhaps surprisingly: I agree with the Ontario Court of Appeal and the motion judge that the approach favoured by Chevron is sound…
Criminal Assault
The concept of criminal assault is a fairly simple one. It is a criminal offence to hit other people. Unfortunately as with many legal concepts the simplicity of a basic…
Defendant has obligation to move civil litigation case forward
Carioca’s Import & Export Inc. v. Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, 2015 ONCA 592 released today says that a defendant has a duty to move a case along. This is a…