Last month, the Supreme Court of Canada («SCC») delivered a single - paragraph
oral judgment in the matter of R v Day, 2014 SCC 74, dismissing an appeal from the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal («NLCA»), 2014 NLCA 14 [Day].
The Lawyer's Daily states that concerns are being raised about the seemingly growing number of
oral judgments from the SCC.
CR2 - 14 Ontario Superior Court of Justice North Bay, Ontario N.M. Karam
J. Oral judgment: June 9, 2014.
«Our Court was set up to give
oral judgments and to handle one or two trials per day along with pre-trials and set dates.
That the Chambers judge had ignored significant evidence of domestic violence, making no mention of it in his Reasons, handed down a month and a half after
his oral judgment.
Assuming that sufficient evidence has been provided to determine the issue, the judge delivers
an oral judgment from the bench if possible.
Oral judgment should be out within 48 hours.
Often, especially in claims involving simple facts, the judge will simply render
an oral judgment on the spot and there will be no written decision.