Manitoba eLaw – New Edition – Criminal Law

The August 2018 edition, Update No. 87, has just been released.

In This Issue

  • Solicitor Client Privilege Not a Sword to Pierce Informer Privilege: SCC
  • Sentencing a Highly Individualized Process: SCC
  • CSC Must Ensure Appropriateness of Indigenous Offender
  • Policies and Programming: SCC
  • On-Duty Theft Conviction and Sentence Divides Appeal Court: MBCA
  • Allegations of Judicial Bias Should Not be Made Lightly: MBCA
  • Absence of Aggravating Factors Not Mitigating: MBCA
  • Trafficking Conviction Stands Despite Unlawful Search: MBCA
  • Sextortion a Form of Sexual Violence: MBCA
  • Other Court of Appeal Decisions
  • Queen’s Bench Decisions
  • Legislative Update
  • Court Notices
  • Recommended Reading
  • Fall CPD

Distracted Driving and Disabling Technology

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.

 

New Book Display: New & Featured Books

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)

Criminal Law Newsletters

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.

 

Gladue Reports Database coming…in Saskatchewan

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

 

Manitoba eLaw – New Edition – Criminal Law

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

Manitoba Law Library will close at 11am on May 15 for a private event.
Staff will be available by email for research and reference questions.