«The term «pro bono» refers to activities of the firm undertaken normally
without expectation of fee and not in the course of ordinary commercial practice and consisting of (i) the delivery of
legal services to persons of limited means or to charitable, religious, civic, community, governmental, and educational organizations in matters which are designed primarily to address the
needs of persons of limited means; (ii) the provision of
legal assistance to individuals, groups, or organizations seeking to secure or protect
civil rights,
civil liberties, or public rights; and (iii) the provision of
legal assistance to charitable, religious, civic, community, governmental, or educational organizations in matters in furtherance of their organizational purposes, where the payment of standard
legal fees would significantly deplete the organization's economic resources or would be otherwise inappropriate.»
The length of this blog comment does not permit a description of the reasons provided for the rejection of the defences asserted in the Federal Court, namely why proof of Canadian domestic maritime law sufficed in the absence of proof of American law; why a
legal unregistered mortgage under Canadian Maritime Law is opposable to a bona fide purchaser for value
without notice; or why the mortgage
need not be registered under the Quebec
Civil Code.