''R v Rahey'',
987
Year 987 ( CMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
* February 7 – Bardas Phokas (the Younger) and Bardas Skleros, two membe ...
1 S.C.R. 588 is a leading constitutional decision of the
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 ...
. The accused challenged a delay of over eleven months on an application for a
directed verdict
In law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In England and Wales, ...
as violation of the right to a trial within a reasonable time under
section 11(b) of the ''Charter''. The Court found that there was a violation of section 11(b) and granted a
stay of proceedings
Stay may refer to:
Places
* Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US
Law
* Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment
* Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a ...
.
Background
Carl Rahey was charged with filing false tax returns and tax evasion. His assets were put in
receivership. His trial began and after the closing of the Crown's argument, in December 1982 the defence applied for a directed verdict. Over a period of nine months the judge delayed issuing a decision. In September 1983, the defence applied to dismiss the charges as a violation of Rahey's right to trial in a reasonable time under section 11(b) of the ''Charter''. The next day the trial judge issued his decision rejecting the application for a directed verdict.
The application for dismissal was granted. On appeal the charges were reinstated.
There were three issues put to the Supreme Court:
#whether the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia was a court of competent jurisdiction for the purposes of an application under s. 24(1) of the Charter;
# whether appellant's right to be tried under a reasonable time was infringed; and, if so,
# whether the superior court judge properly exercised her jurisdiction in dismissing the charges because of the unreasonable delay of the trial judge.
Judgment of the Supreme Court
The majority allowed the appeal and issued a stay of proceedings. There were four separate reasons written.
See also
*
List of Supreme Court of Canada cases
External links
*
LLCin any state of the
U.S
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rahey
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms case law
Supreme Court of Canada cases
1987 in Canadian case law
Canadian criminal procedure case law