by Karen Sawatzky | Aug 6, 2018 | Caselaw, Criminal Law, Distracted Driving
A recent decision from the British Columbia Provincial Court acquitted a driver of using a cellphone while driving. Vancouver Island police were conducting a cellphone and seatbelt safety campaign when they charged a driver with using a cellphone while driving. The driver had been informed by his employer that his cellphone had been equipped with software that disabled it from functioning when it was in a vehicle in motion. At the time he was charged, he had moved it from the passenger seat beside him to the dashboard.
The judge considered the term “use” in both the Motor Vehicles Act and the Use of Electronic Devices While Driving Regulation. Every jurisdiction has its own distracted driving law, so the facts of this case may not be applicable elsewhere.
R. v. Tannhauser, 2018 BCPC 183
h/t What’s hot on CanLII this week.
by Allyssa McFadyen | Jul 12, 2018 | Contract Law, Criminal Law, Government Procurement, Mining Law, New Books, Personal Injury
We’ve recently added new titles to our collection!
New to our library are titles from Emond’s Criminal Law Series. The series was awarded the 2018 Hugh Lawford Award for excellence in legal publishing.
New titles are:
If you’re looking to take out any of these books, please see a staff member. (48 hour loan period)
by Karen Sawatzky | Jul 4, 2018 | Commentary, Criminal Law, Current Awareness, Digests
Further to our previous post on current awareness, we’d like to offer distribution of the following newsletters on criminal law:
- Milligan’s Criminal Law Advisor (monthly)
- Police Powers Newsletter (monthly)
- Mack’s Criminal Law Bulletin (biweekly)
- Segal’s Motor Vehicle and Impaired Driving Newsletter (biweekly)
- Watt’s Criminal Law and Evidence Newsletter (biweekly)
- Alan D. Gold’s Criminal Law Netletter (weekly)
- Impaired Driving Netletter (bimonthly)
If you’re interested in receiving any or all of these newsletters, please email library@lawsociety.mb.ca so we can add you to our distribution list. Please note that you must be a member of the Law Society of Manitoba in order to receive this service.
by Karen Sawatzky | May 16, 2018 | Access to Justice, Criminal Law, Sentencing
Gladue reports are pre-sentencing or bail hearing reports which take into account Indigenous offenders’ background on sentencing. They stem from a landmark 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision. The University of Saskatchewan has developed a research database to assist Gladue report writers by making them easier and less costly to prepare. Access to the database is by subscription, which revenue will be used to hire students to update the database.
The new Gladue Rights Research Database provides lawyers, researchers and others with instant access to the insights and conclusions of more than 500 academic works related to the history of settler colonialism in Saskatchewan. It also includes a large and growing body of oral history resources and key archival documents.
Robson Hall at the University of Manitoba has developed a Gladue Handbook to help report writers in Manitoba.
This is a really interesting and exciting development for the protection of Gladue rights.
News release from University of Saskatchewan
by Karen Sawatzky | Feb 14, 2018 | Criminal Law, Law Society Publications, Legal Research
The February 2018 edition, Update No. 86, has just been released.
In This Issue
- Indeterminate Sentences Constitutional: SCC
- Ensuring Juries are Properly Instructed: MBCA
- Photo Lineup Identification Evidence: MBCA
- Role of Exceptional Circumstances in Sentencing “Limited and Rare”: MBCA
- 45 Months’ Delay Unreasonable: MBQB
- Recent Sentencing Decisions
- Provincial Court Notice and Form
- Recommended Reading
- Criminal Justice Conference: CBA
by Karen Sawatzky | Jan 2, 2018 | Court of Queen's Bench, Criminal Law, Practice Directions
The Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench has issued the following new practice direction:
Beginning in February 2018, as a one-year pilot project, all pre-trial conferences for judge-alone trials in the case of new criminal matters will be managed by one of approximately eight judges. A first group of four of these pre-trial judges will be assigned to this project for the first six months of the year and a second group of four pre-trial judges will be assigned to this project for the second six months of the year. Each new criminal matter proceeding by judge-alone will be assigned to one of these pre-trial judges.
Please read the practice direction in full.
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