For over a century, common law courts have grappled with the question of whether or not to recognize a cause of action in tort for invasion of privacy. In 1937, Latham CJ held in Victoria Park Racing that “any person is entitled to look over the plaintiff’s fences and to what goes on in the […]
Jeffrey Allan Ashmore’s final attempt to have his first degree murder conviction overturned on Charter grounds failed on Thursday when he was denied leave to the Supreme Court of Canada. Ashmore was convicted at trial and appealed to the British Columbia Court of Appeal on the basis that his section 9 and section 10(b) rights […]
Costa Concordia: A Sea of Suits The RMS Titanic struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage from England to New York City. The ship sank on April 15, 1912. History repeated itself nearly 100 years later when the Costa Concordia hit a rock off the Coast of Italy and sunk on January 13, 2012. As […]
Chief Justice McLachlin, for a unanimous Supreme Court of Canada (7-0), has confirmed (see [2012] 1 SCR 5) that Canada’s municipal councils are entitled to consider a wide range of factors when making a decision with respect to the make-up of a particular taxation bylaw. What’s more, McLachlin CJ makes it clear that a municipal […]
Labour arbitration affords an economical, accelerated and informal mechanism to maintain peaceful industrial relations and address the economic needs of an enterprise. Arbitrators adjudicate disputes by interpreting the language of the collective agreement, hearing evidence, and determining the obligations of the employer and the union. When arbitration decisions are challenged, the legal approach taken by […]
Though a few weeks old by now, the recent decision by the Federal Court in Poker v Mushuau Innu First Nation, 2012 FC 1 [Innu], was too interesting to go without comment. In Innu, the Court set aside a First Nation Band Council election due to a series of shortcomings in the election process.
Do you like to try before you buy? Also known as the “Apple iTunes” case, SOCAN v Bell considers whether the 30-second preview clips made available to consumers by online music retailers constitute an exception pursuant to s. 29 of the Copyright Act, RSC 1985, c C-42, which states that "[f]air dealing for the purpose […]
They have done away with the nightmarish scenes from George Orwell’s 1984. They have done away with the unnerving language of insidious dangers around the corner. They have even done away with hypothetical scenarios involving round-the-clock surveillance of each other. The decision that the nine justices on the United States Supreme Court reached last week […]
The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) was a scheme created by the federal government that bought all the wheat and barley produced by farmers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and some parts of British Columbia and marketed it on behalf of farmers on the international markets. Subject to limited exceptions, farmers could not sell or transport wheat […]
At the Court is a biweekly feature profiling appeals that are scheduled to be heard at the Supreme Court of Canada. R v DC and R v Mabior: Revising Cuerrier? The Supreme Court will be revisiting the highly contentious Cuerrier decision on February 8 when it hears R v DC and R v Mabior together. Given […]