Evidence Law

APPEAL WATCH: Revisiting the admissibility of similar fact evidence in R v Chizanga

The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) will soon hear the appeal of R v Chizanga, 2024 ONCA 545 [Chizanga], in which it will opine on the principles of admitting evidence of prior discreditable conduct [41405].  Building upon the seminal case of R v Handy, 2002 SCC 56 [Handy] which set out the principles for the admissibility of such evidence, this appeal […]

R v Kruk: Bringing Sense Back to Common-Sense Assumptions

Confessions, Confidentiality and Consent: Re-Visiting Therapist-Client Privilege in R v Chatillon 

R v Clark: The Supreme Court upholds specialized jury instructions for eyewitness identification

Is eyewitness testimony subject to a special standard of jury instructions? In R v Clark, 2022 SCC 49, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) upheld the need for trial judges to provide Hibbert instructions upon eyewitness testimony that leads to an identification in court. In a unanimous oral judgement delivered by Justice Karakatsanis, the court […]

Barendregt v Grebliunas Hearing: Admitting New Evidence in Family Law Cases

Masked Beyond a Reasonable Doubt: R v Cowan is Granted Leave to the Supreme Court

R v Slatter: Victory or Missed Opportunity for Rights of Women with Intellectual Disabilities?

Groundhog Day: A Q&A with LEAF on the Recent Rape Shield Trilogy (Barton, Goldfinch and R(V))

R v Omar - Using Social Context to Inform Arbitrary Detention Rules

Establishing the Parameters of Privacy and Trust in the Sharing Economy

TheCourt.ca has published commentary on R v Reeves from when it was heard at the Ontario Court of Appeal and most recently at the Supreme Court of Canada. This post is a forward-thinking piece on the impact of R v Reeves on the sharing economy. 2019 has arrived with a slew of upcoming Initial Public Offerings […]