R. V. Mills (1999)
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R v Mills (disambiguation) There are a number of Court cases by the name ''R. v. Mills'': * '' R v Mills (1838)'', a decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales * ''Mills v R'', 9861 S.C.R. 863, a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada relating to the right to a trial w ...
for other cases by same name'' ''R v Mills'',
999 999 or triple nine most often refers to: * 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries * 999 (number), an integer * AD 999, a year * 999 BC, a year Books * ''999'' (anthology) or ''999: ...
3 S.C.R. 668 is a leading
Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
decision where the Court upheld the newly enacted rape shield law when challenged as a violation to section 7 and 11(d) of the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part o ...
. The rape shield law was the second of its type, the first having been struck down in '' R. v. Seaboyer''. Accordingly, this case is often cited as an example of judicial dialogue.


Background

Mills was an accused charged with sexual assault and unlawful sexual touching. Counsel for Mills obtained medical records from a counselling organization, and further sought records from a psychiatrist and the child and adolescent services association. However, during the trial in 1997 the parliament of Canada passed Bill C-46 which introduced sections 278.1 to 278.91 into the Criminal Code which concerned the production of records for sexual offences. Mills challenged the constitutionality of these provisions under section 7 and 11(d) of the Charter. The trial judge found that the provisions did violate the Charter and were not saved under section 1. In a seven to one decision, the Court held that the provisions were constitutional, overturning the trial judge.


Reasons of the court

Justices McLachlin and Iacobucci, writing for the majority, found that the new provisions provided the judge with enough discretion to preserve the complainant's right to privacy and equality while still allowing for the accused to provide a full answer and defence.


See also

*
List of Supreme Court of Canada cases (Lamer Court) This is a chronological list of notable cases decided by the Supreme Court of Canada from appointment of Antonio Lamer as Chief Justice of Canada to his retirement. 19901994 19951999 See also * List of notable Canadian Courts of Appeals cases ...
*
R v Seaboyer ''R v Seaboyer'', 9912 S.C.R. 577 is a leading Supreme Court of Canada decision where the Court struck-down a rape-shield provision of the Criminal Code as it violated the right to "full answer and defence" under sections 7 and 11(d) of the ''Ca ...


References


External links

*
canlii.org
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms case law Supreme Court of Canada cases 1992 in Canadian case law Rape in Canada Canadian criminal case law Canadian evidence case law Publication bans in Canadian case law {{canada-law-stub