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 still be constitutional. Stunt driving has been defined as driving a vehicle at a rate of speed in excess of 50 km over the speed limit. The Court had previously stated that speeding was an absolute liability offence. To overcome this apparent contradiction the Court has proclaimed that the accused person could demonstrate that he had exercised due diligence in maintaining a speed less than 50 km over the speed limit but would then still be convicted of the lesser included offence of speeding 50 km over the speed limit.

Consequently, it is now entirely legal for the police to seize your car without due process, without a trial and without appeal even though you had no intention of breaking the law, or traveling at such a speed. It is also entirely possible that your vehicle can be seized without the law being broken, simple because a police officer says that it was broken.

We are all fortunate to be protected by the fundamental principles of justice, due process and fairness. I feel sorry for those poor souls suffering under regimes that rely on arbitrary detention and arbitrary confiscation of property, to punish their citizenry. Courts and constitutions are inconvenient for autocrats and dictators.