Disagreement in the Court of Appeal
There is a divide between the makers of the law in Ontario. Justices of the Ontario Court of Appeal decide how criminal laws will be interpreted and applied in Ontario, unless the specific interpretation or application has already been adjudicated by the Supreme Court of Canada. This means that matters which rarely appear before the Supreme Court, such as the application of sentencing principles, guideline or starting point sentences, applications for bail and procedural questions, are guided by the Ontario Court of Appeal. But what becomes of the law when the Justices of a Court of the Ontario Appeal disagree on these issues? Recently, a three member panel of the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned a decision from one of their fellow Court of Appeal Justices in R. v. Sidhu . When faced with an application for bail pending appeal, the original Justice hearing R. v. Sidhu determined that in […]