DAY 89 & 90(June 20) Exam Review

All of you have the exam review sheets that I handed out last week.  Also, you received updated marks today - I'm proud of everyone's achievements in here, way to go!!!

 Exam Review

·        Earliest sets of written laws - Code of Hammurabi, Mosaic Law, Roman Law, Justinian's Code, Magna Carta, Napoleonic Code, Geneva, UNDHR

·        Precedents in court proceedings - similar fact cases must be judged similarly - often a precedent setting case changes laws.

·        How are laws created in Canada, in particular what happens in the House of Commons? - our elected officials modify laws, create laws. 

·        There are some defences to negligence cases including 

voluntary assumption of risk - reasonable people assume some risk involved with certain activities, e.g. sports, attending events

inevitable accident - "act of God"

·        What are hybrid, indictable, and summary criminal offences? 

Indictable - most serious type of offence, you'll likely see a judge before you're released.

Summary - least serious, no need to see a judge, probably a fine, ticket

Hybrid - can be charged as indictable or summary - the Crown decides, often on the advice of the police.

·        What are examples of each type of criminal offence? 

Crimes against people - various levels of assault, various levels of homicide.

Crimes against property - fraud, theft, break and enter, nuisance (vandalism), arson, 

Crimes against public morals - activities around prostitution, gambling, narcotics.

·        What are your rights upon arrest as outlined in the Charter of Rights, s. 10?

Informed of why you're under arrest.

Get a lawyer and be told that you can have a lawyer.

Habeas corpus - get bail if you're not a further threat.

Innocent until Proven Guilty.

Notably, you do NOT have the right to remain silent (in the USA you have that right).

·        What are some examples of the goals of sentencing?

Rehabilitation - to rehabilitate the criminal

General Deterrence - to convince, deter etc. the general public from committing similar crimes.

Specific Deterrence - to convince, deter the criminal him/herself from committing similar crimes.

To note, Youth Criminals - the emphasis is always on rehabilitation.

·        What are some sentences for the various types of homicides?

 1^st Degree Murder is Life in Prison with no parole for 25 years.  Usually people are eligible to apply for parole after 1/3 of their sentence has been served.

·        What are and when can an accused use these defences to a criminal offence.            

·        Mental Illness - for severe crimes only (generally murder)

·        Alibi - to prove you were somewhere else during a crime, and therefore cannot possibly have done it.

·        Insanity - no longer a defence in Canada, it's now called Mental Illness.

·        Automatism - e.g. sleep-walking. When a person is unable to control their own action.

·           Entrapment - when the police help or encourage a person to commit a crime.

·           Duress - generally when someone is threatened with severe harm at the time (or very close to it) he/she commits the criminal act. 

·           Consent - often used in fights, sports violence, sexual crimes - it's when an accused says that the victim actually consented to the violence.

·           Double Jeopardy - once acquitted or convicted of a crime, you cannot be charged against for the same crime.

·        TORT law includes what other areas of law?  

·        Exactly what elements are considered in an action of Intentional Tort - 

- Intentional Tort (harm)

- Injury - real harm (serious) occurred

- Causation - the intent to harm and the actions take resulted in the harm claimed

- Damages - harm can be compensated for with $$

What must be proven to prove a negligence claim? 

- Negligence, insufficient care was taken by the defendant

- Causation - the negligence action or inaction resulted in the harm/damages claimed

- Damages - actual loss or harm or damages that can be compensated for with $$

- Duty of Care - does the defendant owe the victim an obligation to exercise care to prevent the harm actually done.

Standard of Care - what a reasonable person would expect for the level of care owed to the victim.

·   Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, what rights to privacy do offenders have?

- Unless a serious offence, youth criminals' identities cannot be published.  This is to enhance their chances of rehabilitation and to limit the other damaging effects of being a criminal, e.g. work, family, education. 

Part 2

TWO short answer questions regarding cases that are presented to you.  They are each worth 15 marks (of a 90 mark exam) and involve the following parts of law:

1.  Extenuating circumstances surrounding a murder trial.  What may judges consider when sentencing convicted murderers?
Elements of a Crime - 
Actus Reus - criminal action ("guilty action")
Mens Rea - criminal intent ("guilty mind")

Conditions for a Crime -
1. Society considers the action/behaviour to be immoral or wrong. 
2. The action must cause harm to the victims or society in general. 
3. The harm must be severe in nature.
4. The criminal justice system is an appropriate way to punish the criminal.


Defenses - 
Consider for this case the defenses of automatism and duress.

Early in the course we looked at three different ways (philosophies) of dealing with the law.
Natural Law - in the natural world circumstances will often dictate the outcome of a situation.  e.g. if you are stuck in a cave for a month, you'll probably die of dehydration or starvation.  For some people God plays a role and for them it's quite natural.

Positivist - this is when the "letter of the law" is the only thing considered, where actions and consequences are considered in either/or fashion, "black or white".  Outside circumstances are not considered.


Realist - this is where all circumstances, including natural law circumstances, are considered when judging a case.  Things like motivations for actions and wider implications of sentencing (e.g. no mom/dad at home with kids if mom/dad are in jail) are considered.

2.  When a person is contracted to commit an illegal act and it goes horribly wrong with consequences and injuries to others far beyond what was originally intended, what legal steps should the police and the judicial system take to bring the perpetrators to justice?  

In a case like this, you should consider the circumstances as listed for Question 1 above, but for defences you might consider Mistake (but that's very weak).

Part 3

For the long answer essay question I provide you with a short reading about a case.  You are to comment on the reading using, primarily, supporting evidence from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  You should review it so that you are familiar with it – I will provide you with a copy for the exam so you do NOT need to memorize it.

For this question you should make a skeleton outline before writing.  In your outline list:
EXACTLY which parts of the Charter apply.
EXACTLY which parts of Criminal Law apply.
Then do a short outline of each paragraph including the intro and conclusion - do this will dot jots of the main points you'll raise INCLUDING the parts of law (Charter or Criminal Code) that apply.

An Intro should INCLUDE the points of law that you'll be using AND it should include the opinion that you will be proving.

Each body paragraph should have a topic sentence (the point you'll be making), proof (points of law), discussion and then the last sentence should connect the paragraph DIRECTLY with one of the points in your introduction.

Conclusion should sum up the points your made and it should have a final statement connecting the body of your paper to the introduction (your opinion).

DAY 86 (June 15) Summative Turning Points

Turning Points:

• Jan decides NOT to take the case because there's no-one to sue with deep enough pockets to pay a reasonable settlement.
• After his second speeding ticket, Jan walks and sees W.R. Grace and Beatrice trucks at the work site - he's found his deep pockets.
• Hire a large team to investigate and gather evidence with a warrant to search.
• History of the deaths and sickeness in the town - "cluster".
• Offers of settlement, e.g. $25M, $20M, $8M.
• The "swimming pool".
• Judge's questions .  Thatcher (Beatrice) was free, Cheeseman (Grace) still in.
• Trial - settlement out of court.  Grace = $8M
• Environmental Protection Agency takes on the case = $69M settlement out of court, both factories torn down.

DAY 83 (June 10) Defences for Negligence

You first redid the quiz on  all of the elements of Negligence and Intentional Torts.  Because these ideas (the elements) are elemental to (ha, sorry about that, it means that they are the basis for) Tort Law you really need to know them well.

Defences to Negligence

Contributory Negligence - at one time society felt that if someone contributed in any way to an accident that they should NOT be able to claim damages - seems a little harsh today, though.  So now, if the plaintiff and the defendant are both negligent to some degree then damages are divided between them.

A judge will decide the proportion of negligence for each party and damages are assigned accordingly.  For example, a judge finds one driver 75% at fault for driving too fast.  The judge finds the other driver 25% for not stopping fully at a stop sign and for not wearing a seat belt.

Voluntary Assumption of Risk - this assumes that reasonable people understand that some risks are associated with certain activities.  Defendants must prove that plaintiffs knew the risk involved in their actions and chose to assume that risk.  Things like scuba-diving, sky-diving, playing contact sports, etc. have inherent risks. 

Also, if you get into a car with a drunk driver, and you KNOW the driver is drunk, and an accident occurs and you get hurt - the judge may reduce the damages awarded to you based on the fact that you assumed a risk by riding with a drunk driver.

Inevitable Accident -  sometimes called, "Act of God", certain accidents happen that are really no person's fault.  Examples include lightning strikes, high winds, hail.  If a tornado picks up a tree and it falls into your path when you're driving and you drive into the ditch to avoid it, you really can't blame anyone.

 Vicarious Liability - when a person is held responsible for the actions of someone else.  For example, society expects that people who own cars will protect society by loaning the car out only to responsible people.  So if you loan your car to someone who crashes it, you may be partly responsible, e.g. my friend's dad's insurance company paid damages to me as the passenger in the car.

This concept applies to the workplace too - the owners of a company may be liable for the safety of their workers and the public who buys their products.

Host Liability - this is a new area of tort law where commercial and social hosts (homes, restaurants, bars) where alcohol is served are being held responsible for guests who drive away drunk and cause accidents.

Commercial Hosts are especially liable for drunk guests, mostly because they supplied the alcohol that got the patrons drunk.  Commercial hosts have to follow these rules to reduce liability:
1. Train servers to recognize drunk patrons.
2. Monitor patrons' consumption of alcohol
3. Do not serve drunk guests
4. Ensure a designated driver or taxi ride is available for drunk patrons.
5. Call friends or family to get the drunk home safetly.
6. Take away the patron's keys.
7. Call the police if they try to drive.

Social Hosts - tbcontinued . . . .

DAY 78 (June 3) Small Claims Court and Civil Law Intro.

We started our study of Civil Law with a look at Small Claims court - a short video and discussion based on this handout: Setting the Stage for Small Claims Court.

Then I took everyone through and Introduction to Torts and Negligence and here are the highlights:

Torts/Personal Injury – Overview

The word “Tort” comes from the French world for “Wrong.”  The primary aim of tort law is to provide relief for damages incurred and deter others from committing the same harms.
 
Torts are civil wrongs that result in an injury or harm and constitute the basis for a claim and lawsuit by the injured party.
 
The types of damages the injured party may recover are:

• loss of earning capacity
• pain and suffering
• reasonable medical expenses

 
Specific torts include acts such as:

• Trespass
• Assault
• Battery
• Negligence
• Producing faulty products
• Intentional infliction of emotional distress
• Defamation of character

 
Tort law determines when the person who causes the harm must pay compensation to the person who suffers it.  Personal injury law encompasses all types of physical and psychological injuries such as injuries arising from:

• motor vehicle accidents
• occupier's liability claims
• public liability claims
• negligence of school boards
• product liability claims
• catastrophic loss claims such as accidents resulting in paraplegia.

 
The Tort of Negligence is when harm occurs as a result of an individual, who is under a duty, fails to meet a standard of care imposed by that duty through an act or omission.
 
In general terms, Intentional Torts are any intentional acts that are reasonably foreseeable to cause harm to an individual and do so.
 
 

ELEMENTS OF THE TORT OF NEGLIGENCE

 1. NEGLIGENCE

Insufficient care; what a reasonable person should have done to protect the plaintiff

2. CAUSATION

Negligence must in fact be a cause of the damages complained of

3. DAMAGES

Actual loss or damage of a type recognized by law (usually a monetary loss)

4. DUTY OF CARE

An obligation by defendant to exercise sufficient care towards the plaintiff

5. STANDARD OF CARE

It is appropriate to hold the defendant liable based upon their expected standard of care owed to the plaintiff

 

ELEMENTS OF AN INTENTIONAL TORT

 

1.  INTENTIONAL TORT

The action resulting in the harm was intentional or voluntary

2. INJURY

The action must have caused harm or injury to the plaintiff

3. CAUSATION

The Tort was in fact the cause of the harm or injury

4. DAMAGES

The injury caused harm that can be rectified by (usually) a monetary payment to return the plaintiff to their position before the injury.

DAY 77 (June 2) Last Day to Work on Legal Brief Case Study

This was a good last day to spend tweaking your projects as we had a shortened class to accommodate locker cleanouts.  So, we spent the period in the Library perfecting your Legal Brief Case Studies - excellent work everyone!  I have most of them submitted to me now - if you haven't submitted yet please do so soon.

DAY 76 (June 1) We Welcome Community Officer Rob!

Today we had the pleasure of welcoming Community Officer Rob into our classroom and he kept us entertained with a very lively discussion about all things related to policing.  He also addressed our questions that I reposted yesterday.

We had a great time and it's obvious that Officer Rob is very comfortable in front of a class, a natural fit as he was a classroom teacher for many years before taking up policing.