LawNow is looking for volunteer contributors.If you share our enthusiasm and commitment to public legal education, consider writing on one of the topics in our Call for Contributors, or contact us with your own suggestions for themes, special reports, and columns.Some of the topics outlined … [Read more...]
Bench Press 37-4: A Dog Divided?
Richard Kitchen asked the B.C. Provincial Court to rule on the ownership of a Border collie after the breakup of his relationship. It was a sad affair: a letter on file from the dog to “my daddy” says the dog is unhappy they cannot be a family but that “I know there is no way mommy would ever keep … [Read more...]
Bench Press 37-4: The Defence of Duress
A young Nova Scotia mother was in a violent and abusive marriage. She asked for help repeatedly from the police to no avail. Finally, in fear of her life and that of her child, she tried to hire a hit man to kill her husband. The hit man turned out to be an undercover RCMP officer. She was charged … [Read more...]
Bench Press 37-4: No Jury-vetting, We’re Canadian
Canadians are used to reading American books and watching TV programs where lawyers for parties in court actions amass material about potential jurors. John Grisham’s The Runaway Jury comes to mind. However, in Canada, the Ontario Court of Appeal recently overturned a murder conviction because it … [Read more...]
Bench Press 37-4: Denunciation, Deterrence, and Death
The British Columbia Court of Appeal recently almost doubled the sentence of a man convicted of possession of child pornography and sexual assault from 3 years and 3 months to 6 years. The Court wrote “…the sentence imposed on Mr. Allen ought to have communicated society’s condemnation of his … [Read more...]
Bench Press 37-4: Interest in Access to Justice
Francis LeBlanc was injured in a traffic accident when he was 17. He was successful in recovering damages for his injuries, but he had to borrow money to finance his litigation. He claimed the borrowed money plus interest as disbursements. The Clerk of the Court rejected the interest on the loans, … [Read more...]
What topics would you like to see covered in LawNow Magazine?
It’s that time of year again! All of the staff at the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta will gather around a feast of lemon squares and kale chips to brainstorm ideas for the next volume of LawNow Magazine.While we like to think that we’re quite brilliant when it comes to thinking up … [Read more...]
Data Privacy Day
LawNow Magazine covers lots of hot topics and privacy law has been a big one in the past few issues.In the latest issue of LawNow Magazine, the Special Report looked at developments in Internet law, including privacy and cloud computing.The Internet Law column in the same issue,” Who Cares … [Read more...]
Two Spouses; One Deceased
Ronald Carrigan had a legal spouse, whom he married in 1973, and a common law spouse, whom he began living with in 2000. He died in 2008. Both spouses claimed the death benefit under his pension. One provision of the Ontario Pension Benefits Act states that the person who is his or her spouse on the … [Read more...]
Trial Judge Plagiarism
Two judges, one in British Columbia and one in Alberta have been found to have copied large amounts of material filed by the parties arguing cases before them into their judgments. Justice Lee of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench was criticized by the Alberta Court of Appeal for issuing two sets of … [Read more...]
