Instructions:
- Find a case that interests you on CanLII involving the “new” 1982 Constitution, specifically, The Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The previous post indicate Charter sections on which you should focus.
- Read the case. Take your notes. Etc.
- Write a Case Brief of your case. This includes: Facts, Issues, Decisions, Reasons, Ratio.
- The whole thing should be in plain and simple language.
- Facts: What happened in the actual, original case? Please remember to put this into your own words.
- This will likely be the longest part of your Case Brief.
- Issues: What is the court considering as the problem? This should be a problem with Charter and something else in conflict.
- This should not be copied/pasted and must be in your own words.
- There may be more than one Issue in the case. If there are multiple Charter-related issues, pick the one you like the most. You do not have to do all of the issues mentioned!
- If the issue has sections not related to the Charter, you do not have to include them. If there is no issue related to the Charter, and this is an assignment on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, then you cannot pick that case.
- Decision: Very brief (HA! Get it?). What did they (the court) decide?
- One sentence or less.
- Do not include things like “Held: the appeal was dismissed.” That does not tell us anything. Be clear about what happened. E.g. “The police were found to have obtained the drug evidence legally and it was allowed in the trial.”
- Remember: this should be in your own words.
- Saying the “Appeal was dismissed” is not helpful. WHAT was the appeal? WHY was it dismissed? Was evidence thrown out and a new trial ordered? Was testimony included? Excluded? Be specific.
- Reasons: What are the reasons they (court/judges) made the Decision?
- This should be the second-longest section of your assignment.
- Ratio: There are two main parts to the Ratio. The first part is literally a numerical ratio. The second, and main purpose of the Ratio, is it is meant to be “the main takeaway of the case.” So, whatever the main point is of your Case Brief (likely not about guilty/not guilty – more likely about a Charter right and possible exclusions under 24(2) in roughly one sentence.
- Most likely your case will have gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, which has a panel of nine judges, though sometimes only seven will sit to hear a case. So, for example: if 7 out of 9 judges agree on the Decision, that means the Ratio is 7:2.
- The ratio is NOT written in the case. You must count the number of judges in the case total (often listed at the very beginning), and then count the number of judges listed in the Dissent. Minus the amount of total judges from the amount dissenting. E.g. If there are nine judges listed, and three judges dissenting –> That is 9-3=6. Therefore, the Ratio is six judges in the majority, and three judges in dissent. This is written as 6:3.
- What is the ratio of judges who agree with the Decision and Reasons compared to those who Dissented? Remember: the Dissent is not a separate section. It is included in the Ratio! However, the main part of the Ratio is that is is meant to be “the main takeaway of the case.” So, whatever the main point/decision is in roughly one sentence should also be in the Ratio.
Format:
- One page typed.
- One inch margins (this is the default, you will not need to change this).
- Times New Roman Font.
- Size 12 Font.
- Full Name, Block, and Date in top, left-hand margin (you can make it inside the top of the page’s margin so that you have more room for the actual Case Brief).
- Name of case is your title, correctly cited, in size 20 Font.
- Titles of each section should be all caps, Times New Roman, Size 12, underlined.
- To be uploaded to Teams on due date.
- Basically, it should look exactly like the examples Ms. Hopkin gave you with the case briefs of R. v. Trinneer and R. v. Vaillancourt. Case names and legal documents should be italicized.
- Final copy save and submit as a PDF.
- Remember: The whole thing must be exactly one page. Not more. Not less.
STRATEGIES TO TACKLE CASE BRIEF
To start, your goal should be to read through your case taking notes of the key elements. Secondly, focus on writing the Facts of the case. This is the part that you will all probably do very well, since you are all already good at remembering details. The hardest part will be making it concise (short) since the WHOLE THING has to fit on ONE PAGE.
Remember, this is a Charter assignment, so make sure you include the parts about the Charter!
Use your teacher! Bring sections you do not understand and ask for “translations!”
Do not write CJ or JJ beside judges’ names. Those are just random titles. Not necessary to include.
It is recommended for your own security to back-up your assignment (e.g. every once in a while, upload your drafts to OneDrive). All of you have access to OneDrive through the school, but even emailing your progress to yourself every day as a back-up is a good idea. You never know what can happen with technology, and technological issues are the issue/responsibility of the student.
Please note how I have purposefully written things like Charter of Rights and Freedoms and R. v. Trinneer in italics. These MUST ALWAYS be italicized, including in your assignments. You are encouraged to start doing this in your notes to get into the habit. Use that Case Citation Assignment and your textbook to help you check. As you can see by looking up your cases, for example, only the case name “R. v. Last Name” is in italics, and the rest is not. Make sure you leave yourself time for formatting technicalities like this.
Collaboration is totally okay – just has to be documented!
Cases you CANNOT choose for this assignment:
- R. v. Oakes.
- R. v. Grant.
- R. v. Gladue.
- R. v. Morgentaler.
- R. v. Rodriguez.
DUE DATE
Due to Teams by the end of class on (extension) Friday, 21 February 2025.
