No one should be punished because they go to trial. The state is supposed to have to prove that a person charged with a crime is guilty before that person can be punished. This is a long established, and one would think, dearly held principal. Still it is a principal which has been [...]

The Court of Appeal for Ontario has upheld the province’s stunt driving laws. The court recently overturned a Superior Court of Justice decision which had declared the stunt driving law unconstitutional.
The court has declared that the offence of stunt driving is strict liability and as such it can carry a penalty of jail and [...]

In the criminal law there are various defences. One of the least utilized is the defence of necessity and its variant duress. Necessity a defence because it negates the requirement that a wrongful act also be accompanied by malicious or wrongful intent. In latin: mens rea. What is intended is avoiding a grievous harm, such [...]

Some people agree with the provincial government’s stunt driving law. This law allows a police officer to seize your car and suspend your license on the spot, because he decided that you were traveling 50 km over the speed limit.
Stunt Driving Law Is Unconstitutional
Recently, two decisions have struck down the Stunt Driving law of [...]

There have been some high profile cases where a jury could not come to a decision. In these cases the court declares a hung jury and the defendant is not convicted. If he is out on bail, he remains on bail subject to whatever conditions might govern him as a result of his [...]

Politrics From Mr.Harper
Stephen Harper prorogued parliament on December 30, 2009 meaning that this year will start with no sitting parliament, and no legislation being legislated. A great furor is winding itself up among the citizens of Canada. This is Mr. Harpers’s second use of suspending parliament to avoid politics. Last year, [...]

They call it “Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment”. I call it a material misrepresentation. I do not know what the Maple Leafs play but watching them makes it difficult to recognize as a sport and it sure is not entertainment (not for me anyway).
The pretense of the sport of hockey [...]

A Non-alcoholic Too Susceptible For Such Forcible Stops!!!
I do not drink. I do not drink because the penalty for drinking and driving is out of all proportion to the offence. I reason that by never drinking, there is no possibility that I would be convicted of impaired driving or driving while having over [...]

The federal government has passed a law which ends 2 for 1 credit for time served in jail prior to trial or plea. This law was given royal accent in late October of 2009. It seems to be another popular “law and order” move by our government.
There general agreement that there ought not [...]

The province has now decided to prosecute truck drivers for smoking in their trucks. In a bit of perverted logic the powers that be have declared that a truck is a workplace and as such is governed by the no smoke in the work place statutes.
This sort of contorted application of our laws [...]