This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: Twenty-five years ago, a man and his family moved into a home they had built in the Highlands with only a temporary occupancy permit. A final occupancy permit was never obtained, and the lack of compliance was noted on title. As his wife passed away and […]
This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: An appeal in a criminal case does not involve asking the judges hearing the appeal to retry the case. It’s a review of what took place at the original trial. The Court of Appeal can allow an appeal if the verdict at trial was unreasonable and […]
This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: Bill C-21 proposes various amendments to the Criminal Code and Firearms Act to restrict gun ownership. One part of the legislation is a proposal to freeze the sale or transfer of handguns. This has already had the unintended consequence of causing handgun sales to skyrocket in […]
This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: When the divorced father of an adult child with learning disabilities was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he established a trust with $750,000 to provide for his son following his death. As he had been through an acrimonious divorce, the father was concerned that his ex-wife did […]
The week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: The Supreme Court of Canada has found that making people ineligible to even apply for parole for 150 years is cruel and unusual punishment. In 1967 Canada repealed the Criminal Code provisions that allowed people convicted of murder to be put to death by hanging, except […]
This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: Section 530 of the Criminal Code provides a right to a trial in either English or French. It also requires a judge or justice “before whom an accused first appears” to inform accused people of this right. If someone requests a trial in French or English […]
This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: Criminal offences require two things, often described with Latin names: actus reus and mens rea. Actus reus is an intentional physical act. Mens rea is a guilty mind. We don’t wish to convict people for physical acts that were not intentional: crashing your car when you […]
This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: The leaked draft decision on abortion from the US Supreme Court has raised questions concerning the law in Canada. For 100 years in Canada, from 1869 until 1969, having or performing an abortion was a criminal offence in Canada. In 1969 the Criminal Code was amended […]
There are a relatively small number of people who are responsible for a high volume of property crime and associated public disorder. There are a large number of police interactions with people committing offences such as shoplifting, mischief, possession of stolen property, possession of drugs, and breaching previous orders. This has resulted in frustration […]
This week on Legally Speaking with Michael Mulligan: An RCMP officer from Nanaimo is on trial for assault causing bodily harm after he is alleged to have punched a detainee in the eye causing a fractured orbital bone. The complaint in the case was arrested on her 19th birthday after her friends called the […]
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