When rendering a decision, it is incumbent upon the motions
judges to give adequate reasons, the judge should relate the evidence to the
principles in this case, as the following case describes.
New Brunswick (Chief Judge of the Provincial Court) v. Mackin, 1996 CanLII 4800 (NB CA), <http://canlii.ca/t/1lmr0>
GROUND 2 ON APPEAL:
MOTIONS JUDGE FAILED TO GIVE REASONS
Judge
Mackin's counsel argues that the failure to give reasons for his decision is
sufficient for this court to reverse the motions
judge. Counsel for the Chief Judge argues to the contrary that it is not
necessary to give reasons in every case. He cites the decision of the Supreme
Court of Canada (9:0) in R. v. Burns, 1994
CanLII 127 (SCC), [1994] 1 S.C.R. 656 at 664-65 for this proposition. Burns, as noted,
was a criminal case. McLachlin, J. said the rule made good sense, and she
referred to the heavy caseloads to be dealt with in criminal law courts. If
judges had to deal with every aspect of every case, it would slow the system of
justice immeasurably. She said at p.664:
Trial judges are presumed to know the law with which they
work day in and day out. If they state their conclusions in brief compass and
these conclusions are supported by the evidence, the verdict should not be
overturned merely because they fail to discuss collateral aspects of the case.
See also R. v. Smith (D.A.), 1990
CanLII 99 (SCC), [1990] 1 S.C.R. 991; R. v. MacDonald,
1976
CanLII 140 (SCC), [1977] 2 S.C.R. 665 and the comments of L'Heureux-Dubé, J. in Willick v. Willick, 1994
CanLII 28 (SCC), [1994] 3 S.C.R. 670.
The principle
in these cases does not apply here. This appeal does not concern a criminal law
case, nor a family law case. What was being asked for here is an extraordinary
remedy. As well, the failure to relate the evidence to the principles in this
case is hardly the failure to discuss collateral aspects. It was incumbent upon
the motions judge to give adequate reasons, and
this he failed to do. In any event, the task has been undertaken to do so at
the appeal level, and this disposes of that ground.
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