Physical abuse of accused to obtain confession justifies stay of proceedings
R. v. Singh, 2013 ONCA 750: Yet the police had provided no response to the testimony of the appellant and Maharaj on the stay hearing. Indeed, they have not done…
James C Morton
Shotgun exit wounds
"Unlike exit wounds created by rifled weapons, shotguns do not generally give rise to exit wounds unless there is a contact wound to the head, for example (where the exit…
The Rule in Browne v. Dunn
R. v. Dexter, 2013 ONCA 744: The rule in Browne v. Dunn is not merely a procedural rule; it is a rule of trial fairness. The rule was summarized by…
A statutory body may be liable for a common law duty of care
Rausch v. The Corporation of the City of Pickering, 2013 ONCA 740: Although I would reject Mr. Rausch‘s claim that there is an explicit statutory duty of care, I do…
Judges ought to enforce laws, even foolish ones
The legislation requiring penniless convicts to pay a mandatory fee that they never can pay is foolish. But the truth is the legislation, while foolish, was passed by the duly…
Mental derangement?
I saw this story and wondered what was behind it. Behaviour like this is extraordinarily dangerous – a man who stole a snow plow a few years ago killed a…
Deficiencies in translation
Li v. Jean, 2013 NSCA 135: A failure of, or gross deficiency in translation has the potential to deprive a litigant of the right to a trial of issues on…
Ijiraat
The Ijiraat are the shape-shifters. These land spirits are elusive and can transform into any arctic animal to disguise themselves. Most often they take the shape of a raven, bear,…
Airport in Chesterfield Inlet
Remember the song "Take the long way" …
Simultaneous translation inadequate for bilingual jury trials
R v Gagnon 2013 QCCA 1744. Serious implications especially in Quebec and Nunavut.
Specific degree of culpability not shown by post offence conduct
R. v. Jaw 2009 SCC 42: In sum, Vertes J.’s reference to the appellant’s post-offence conduct in his charge to the jury is not an error capable of affecting the…
Anticipatory breach of contract – when does the limitation period commence to run?
Ali v. O-Two Medical Technologies Inc., 2013 ONCA 733 raises an interesting limitations issue. When an anticipatory breach of contract occurs and the innocent party affirms the contract when does…
Second Seminole War
In 1835, the U.S. Army arrived to enforce the treaty. The Seminole leader Osceola led the vastly outnumbered resistance during the Second Seminole War. Drawing on a population of about…
We’re in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone’s arguing over where they’re going to sit
David Suzuki