James C Morton
Happy Thanksgiving
On January 31st, 1957, Parliament proclaimed… "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed … to be observed on the…
Canadian Thanksgiving
The first Thanksgiving celebration by Euro-peoples in North America was not in New England but in Newfoundland by Martin Frobisher, 42 years before the Pilgrims. Frobisher's Thanksgiving was not for…
Must evidence in very serious criminal matters be preserved for the lifetime of the offender?
Chaudhary v. Ontario (Attorney General), 2013 ONCA 615 sought a declaration that all evidence in very serious criminal matters should be preserved for the lifetime of the offender. The Court…
British Columbia Court of Appeal upholds federal ban on assisted suicide
Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), 2013 BCCA 435: The Facts and Reasons of the Trial Judge: The plaintiffs Ms. Carter and Ms. Taylor, both of whom suffered from intractable and…
Analysis and range for manslaughter of children
R v Choy, 2013 ABCA 334: The judge did not have the benefit of this Court’s decisions in R v Nickel,2012 ABCA 158 (CanLII), 2012 ABCA 158, 524 AR 366…
Murder and Intoxication
R. v. Gregory, 2013 NSCA 102: Turning first to intoxication, “drunkenness” is not really a defence to a criminal act. It is a suggestion that, due to the consumption of…
Where wills presumed to meet formal requirements.
Yen Estate v. Chan, 2013 BCCA 423 holds that in the absence of suspicious circumstances or contrary evidence, the trial judge was entitled to rely on the rebuttable presumptions that…
Today is the 250th Anniversary of the Royal Proclamation of 1763
The Royal Proclamation is a foundational document in the relationship between aboriginal peoples and the Crown; while it does not establish aboriginal rights, as those predate the Proclamation, it recognizes…
The GOP attack on the Affordable Care Act is confusing
Let's assume the Act is as terrible as the GOP suggests. That it will fail miserably. So? Give the Democrats the rope to hang themselves with. No one can say…
Arbitrators cannot consider equity unless expressly empowered so to do
British Columbia (Forests) v. Teal Cedar Products Ltd., 2013 SCC 51: Morriss is also inapplicable to the case at bar because it concerned the jurisdiction of a court that was…
The judge got it wrong; memory fails us all
Imagine a major trial in which evidence is given by a judge. The judge, as witness, has nothing to gain and has nothing at risk. The judge is testifying about…