The Lawyer's Daily

SCC was more divided than united on cases in 2018; dissents rose, but case intake and output fell

Back Row (left to right) Justices Malcolm Rowe; Suzanne Côté; Russell Brown; and Sheilah Martin. Front Row (left to right): Justices Andromache Karakatsanis; Rosalie Silberman Abella; Richard Wagner, Chief Justice of Canada; Michael Moldaver; and Clément Gascon, who will retire Sept. 15, 2019.

Tuesday, April 23, 2019 @ 12:31 PM

For the first time in decades, in 2018 the Supreme Court of Canada was more divided than united on the outcome of appeals — setting a record low 48 per cent unanimity rate — after two years of growing division among the judges, new court statistics disclose. ... [read more]

Law prof ‘surprised’ by B.C. Court of Appeal decision in malicious prosecution case Bradley Bryan, University of Victoria faculty of law

Tuesday, April 23, 2019 @ 9:31 AM

The B.C. Court of Appeal has reversed a lower court’s decision that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) maliciously prosecuted a couple in a tax evasion case, saying the trial judge improperly narrowed his consideration of what evidence was important in assessing whether cause existed to initiate the prosecution. ... [read more]

SCC rules police did not violate Charter s. 8 with warrantless sting aimed at online child predators

Thursday, April 18, 2019 @ 5:11 PM

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 6-1 that an undercover police officer who created a fictitious identity online that purported to be a 14-year-old girl did not need a warrant to surreptitiously record his online communications with a suspected child predator — nor was the latter’s constitutional right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure engaged by this police investigative technique. ... [read more]