Section Ten of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Section Ten of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Section Ten of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms specifies rights upon arrest or detention, including the rights to consult a lawyer and the right to habeas corpus. As a part of a broader range of legal rights guaranteed by the Charter, section 10 rights may be limited by the Oakes test and/or the notwithstanding clause. However, section 10 has also spawned considerable litigation, and has made an impact in numerous cases.

Text

The section reads:

cquote|10. Everyone has the right to on arrest or detention:a) to be informed promptly of the reasons therefor;:b) to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right; and:c) to have the validity of the detention determined by way of "habeas corpus" and to be released if the detention is not lawful.

Explanation of arrest or detention

Section 10(a) requires that a person who is arrested or detained must be told why. In "R. v. Latimer (1997)", the Supreme Court of Canada considered an argument in which a person, Robert Latimer, was told he was being "detained", but was not told he was being "arrested" and could be charged with the murder of his daughter. The Court found section 10(a) was not infringed. Section 10(a) is meant to ensure those arrested or detained are aware of the gravity of the situation. Latimer argued that since the police did not call the detention an arrest, he was not fully aware of the severity of the trouble he was in. He also claimed this was the reason why he had declined to talk to a lawyer. The Court argued the words used did not matter, but rather how the suspect can interpret the situation. Latimer could be expected to understand the seriousness of the situation since he was told he was being detained in connection with his daughter's death. The police had explicitly said the situation was serious, and had told him of rights one has when being arrested.

Counsel

The right to consult a lawyer is considered to be important, and the courts have been understanding if, even in cases in which the person arrested or detained preferred not to see any lawyer, it is later argued section 10 is violated because the arrested or detained person did not know any better. This applies, for example, to cases in which the arrested or detained person has a low IQ.Dyck, Rand. Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches. Third ed. (Scarborough, Ontario: Nelson Thomson Learning, 2000), p. 439.]

Section 10 has also been held not only to guarantee the right to see a lawyer, but also a right to be told that one may see a lawyer(wrong edit), a right to legal aid, and a right to be told that one may seek legal aid. Although the right to counsel itself could be found in the 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights, the right to be "told" that one may see counsel is new to Canadian bills of rights. Indeed, in the Bill of Rights case "Hogan v. The Queen" (1978), the Supreme Court found the right to be told that one may see a lawyer did not exist even in a penumbraClarifyme|date=March 2008 of the Bill of Rights. "In effect," Professors F.L. Morton and Rainer Knopff write, "section 10(b) of the Charter overrules "Hogan"." [Morton, F.L. and Rainer Knopff. The Charter Revolution & the Court Party. Toronto: Broadview Press, 2000, page 38.]

In "R. v. Bartle" (1994) the Supreme Court ruled that rights to be informed that one may seek counsel included rights to be told of duty counsel and how to obtain it (e.g., through a free telephone call).

Habeas corpus

References


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Section Nine of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — found under the Legal rights heading in the Charter , guarantees the right against arbitrary detainment and imprisonment. The provision is invoked in the criminal law context generally where a police officer who stops, detains, arrests or otherw …   Wikipedia

  • Section Thirty-three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms Part of the Constitution Act, 1982. Preamble …   Wikipedia

  • Charter of the French Language — The Charter of the French Language (La charte de la langue française, in French), also known as Bill 101 and Loi 101, is a law in the province of Quebec in Canada defining French, the language of the majority of the population, as the only… …   Wikipedia

  • Dietrich v The Queen — Court High Court of Australia Full case name Dietrich v The Queen Date decided 13 N …   Wikipedia

  • Canadian federalism — For the political ideology that favours Quebec remaining within the Canadian federation rather than pursuing independence, see Quebec federalist ideology. Canada This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Canada …   Wikipedia

  • Canadian Constitution Foundation — infobox Organization name = Canadian Constitution Foundation size = caption = The Canadian Constitution Foundation logo motto = Protecting the Constitutional Freedoms of Canadians through education and public interest litigation formation =… …   Wikipedia

  • Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission — CRTC may also stand for Cathode Ray Tube Controller. . History The CRTC was originally known as the Canadian Radio Television Commission. In 1976, jurisdiction over telecommunications services, most of which were then delivered by monopoly common …   Wikipedia

  • Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism — The Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism was a Canadian royal commission established on July 19, 1963, by the government of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson to inquire into and report upon the existing state of bilingualism and… …   Wikipedia

  • Disability rights timeline — Disability Theory and models …   Wikipedia

  • LEGAL AND JUDICIAL SYSTEM — UNDER THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE (1876–1917) Judiciary Throughout the period from the promulgation of the Ottoman Constitution of 1876 until the present time there have been both secular and religious courts exercising jurisdiction in the territory of… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”