Supreme Court of Canada
Trenholm v. Attorney-General of Ontario, [1940] S.C.R.
301
Date: 1940-01-19
John Trenholm (Plaintiff)
Appellant;
and
The Attorney-General of
Ontario (Defendant) Respondent.
1939: November 23; 1940: January 19.
Present: Duff C.J. and Rinfret, Crocket, Davis and Kerwin JJ.
ON APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO.
Habeas Corpus—Person arrested on criminal charge and remanded
by magistrate to gaol—Later committed as mentally ill—Warrant of
Lieutenant-Governor of Province, for conveyance to and detention in hospital,
dated after expiration of remand on criminal charge—Invalidity of
warrant—Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1927, c. 36), s. 970 (as enacted in 1935, c. 56,
s. 15)—Appeal to Supreme Court of Canada from judgment of Court of Appeal for
Ontario affirming refusal of release from hospital on habeas
corpus—Jurisdiction to hear appeal—
[Page 302]
Supreme Court Act (R.S.C., 1927, c. 35), s. 36 (clause
excepting from Court’s jurisdiction appeals from judgments “in criminal causes
and in proceedings for or upon a writ of habeas corpus * * * arising out of a
criminal charge.”).
Appellant, arrested on a criminal charge, was remanded to gaol
by a magistrate on January 3 (1938) until January 10. On January 7, appellant
having been examined as to his mental condition, an information was sworn,
under the Ontario Mental Hospitals Act (now R.S.O., 1937, c. 392),
alleging that appellant was mentally ill, and on examination and inquiry by a
magistrate he was committed as mentally ill. The warrant of the
Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, for appellant’s conveyance to and detention in
a specified hospital, was dated January 12, and on January 15 appellant was
conveyed from the gaol to the hospital. The form of the warrant was that
attached to the regulations issued under said Ontario Act and to be used where
s. 32 (1) of that Act (R.S.O., 1937, c. 392) would apply; but the Court was
told that the same form was used in Ontario when it was intended to proceed
under s. 970 (as enacted in 1935, c. 56) of the Criminal Code. Appellant
applied for his release from the hospital on habeas corpus. His
application was dismissed by Hogg J., ([1939] 3 D.L.R. 627), his appeal to the
Court of Appeal for Ontario was dismissed, and he appealed to this Court.
Held (Rinfret and Crocket JJ. dissenting on the ground
of want of jurisdiction): The appeal should be allowed, and an order should go
for appellant’s release (the order not to issue until after a time fixed).
Per the Chief Justice and Davis and Kerwin JJ.: Said s.
32 (1) of the Ontario Mental Hospitals Act could have no application, as
appellant was not imprisoned “for an offence under the authority of any of the
statutes of Ontario” or “for safe custody charged with an offence” under the
authority of any such statutes; moreover, the proceedings (discussed) indicated
that the warrant was not issued as a result of proceedings commenced under said
Ontario Act. The warrant could not be said to be legally issued under said s.
970 of the Criminal Code, as at the time of its issue the remand on the
criminal charge had expired and appellant was not then “imprisoned in safe
custody charged with an offence” within the meaning of s. 970 (1) (s. 680, Criminal
Code, also referred to by Davis J.). There was therefore no authority for
appellant’s detention. This Court had jurisdiction to hear and determine the
appeal. The objection to jurisdiction on the ground that the proceedings were
“criminal causes” or “proceedings for or upon a writ of habeas corpus *
* * arising out of a criminal charge “ within the exception to this Court’s
jurisdiction in s. 36 of the Supreme Court Act was answered by the fact
that after the expiry of the remand there was no criminal cause or charge in
existence, and therefore the application for appellant’s discharge could not
arise thereout; it arose out of his detention in the hospital under the invalid
warrant issued without any legal authority.
Per Rinfret and Crocket JJ. (dissenting): The appeal
should be quashed for want of jurisdiction. It falls within the clause of s. 36
of the Supreme Court Act which excepts from this Court’s jurisdiction
appeals “in criminal causes and in proceedings for or upon a writ of habeas
corpus * * * arising out of a criminal charge.” The warrant, and the
affidavits produced on the return of the habeas
[Page 303]
corpus order, shewed that the proceedings before Hogg
J. and the custody from which appellant sought his discharge arose out of a
criminal charge within the meaning of said excepting clause, and this in itself
is conclusive against this Court’s jurisdiction; the point now taken that, the
period of remand having expired when the warrant was issued, the warrant was
void and of no effect, while a point to be determined by Hogg J. (had it been
discovered and suggested before him) in considering the question of the
legality of appellant’s custody, is not one which this Court has a right to
consider, as it involves a decision upon the merits of the habeas corpus
application; the only point for this Court to determine upon the question of
its jurisdiction is, not whether the question of the legality of appellant’s
custody at the time was rightly or wrongly determined, but simply whether the habeas
corpus proceedings arose out of a criminal charge. (It would have been
quite another matter, had the question come before this Court by way of appeal
from the decision of a judge of this Court in the exercise of his concurrent
original jurisdiction, as to issue of a writ of habeas corpus ad
subjiciendum, under s. 57 of the Supreme Court Act).
APPEAL from the order of the Court of Appeal for Ontario
dismissing (without written reasons) the present appellant’s appeal from the
order of Hogg J.
dismissing his application for his release from the Ontario Hospital, Toronto,
on habeas corpus.
The material facts of the case are sufficiently stated in the
reasons for judgment in this Court now reported. The appeal to this Court was
allowed with costs throughout; appellant to be discharged from custody; the
order not to issue until after the expiration of two weeks. Rinfret and Crocket
JJ. dissented, being of opinion that this Court had no jurisdiction to
entertain the appeal.
No one appeared for appellant.
K.G. Gray K.C. for respondent.
The judgment of the Chief Justice and Kerwin J. was delivered by
KERWIN J.—This is an appeal by John Trenholm from an order of the
Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissing an appeal from an order of the
Honourable Mr. Justice Hogg which dismissed the application of the appellant
for his discharge from the Ontario Hospital, Toronto. The original application
was “for an order for a writ of habeas corpus for the release of the
said John Trenholm from
[Page 304]
the Ontario Hospital at Toronto; or for such further or other
order as may seem just.” An affidavit of the Superintendent of the Ontario
Hospital was filed, stating:—
2. John Trenholm is at present a patient in the Ontario
Hospital, Toronto, having been admitted to the said hospital on the 15th day of
January, 1938, pursuant to The Mental Hospitals Act, R.S.O., 1937, chap.
392, on a warrant of the Lieutenant-Governor, dated the 12th day of January,
1938, copy of which is attached and marked Exhibit A to this my affidavit.
Paragraphs 9, 10 and 11 of the affidavit state:—
9. The said John Trenholm was brought before Magistrate A.L.
Tinker on January the 7th, 1938, and the said Magistrate Tinker conducted an
inquiry into the mental condition of the said John Trenholm.
10. For the purposes of the inquiry, the said John Trenholm
was examined by Dr. G.A. McLarty and Dr. John Chassels, and both of
the said medical practitioners certified that the said John Trenholm was
mentally ill. Copy of the certificate of Dr. McLarty is attached and
marked Exhibit B to this my affidavit and copy of the certificate of Dr. John
Chassels is attached and marked Exhibit C to this my affidavit.
11. The said Magistrate A.L. Tinker issued his certificate
based on the aforesaid inquiry, copy of which is attached and marked Exhibit D
to this my affidavit.
From the very outset the position taken on behalf of the
respondent was that an error had been made in the Superintendent’s affidavit
and that Trenholm was not in the institution as a result of any proceedings
taken under The Mental Hospitals Act but that the Lieutenant‑Governor’s
warrant referred to was issued in pursuance of section 970 of the Criminal
Code as enacted by section 15 of chapter 56 of the Statutes of 1935.
Apparently the matter was treated as if a writ of habeas corpus ad
subjiciendum had been issued and a return made thereto because the Court
then examined into the truth of the facts set forth in what was treated as a
return.
From this examination it appears that Trenholm, in 1932, was
charged with attempted murder and in August of that year was admitted to the
Psychiatric Hospital, whence he was transferred to the Ontario Hospital,
Toronto. He escaped from that hospital on November 13th, 1935, was later
apprehended, placed in the Psychiatric Hospital on January 26th, 1936, and
again transferred to the Ontario Hospital, Toronto. While he was in the
hospital, the original information charging him with attempted murder was
resworn on December 15th, 1936, asking for the issue of a warrant instead
of a summons, and a warrant was accordingly issued on the same day. He escaped
on June
[Page 305]
18th, 1937, and was arrested on December 31st, 1937, under the
warrant of December 15th, 1936. He was brought before Magistrate
Jones on January 3rd, 1938, and remanded to the Toronto gaol until January
10th, 1938.
On January 6th, 1938, the Assistant Crown Attorney, by a letter
written on the instructions of the magistrate, requested the surgeon at the
Toronto gaol to conduct an examination into the mental condition of Trenholm
and to report. On the same day the gaol surgeon and another doctor, by separate
documents, certified that Trenholm was mentally ill and a proper person to be
confined in an Ontario hospital. These certificates follow the form prescribed
by the regulations under The Mental Hospitals Act, R.S.O., 1937, chapter
392, and reference is made in each certificate to section 20 of that Act. The
Revised Statutes of 1937 were not then in force but section 20 of the present
Act is the same as section 21 of the statute then in force, chapter 39 of the
Statutes of 1935.
On the same day, January 6th, these certificates were directed to
be sent from the Toronto gaol to the office of the Magistrates’ Clerk at the
City Hall, Toronto. It is not shown whether they were received there January
6th or 7th but on the latter date an information was sworn before Magistrate
Tinker under the Ontario Act alleging that Trenholm was mentally ill. No
warrant under the Ontario Act for Trenholm’s apprehension was issued as he was
then in custody but at the end of the information appears a notation “committed
mentally ill,” signed by the magistrate. On the same day, the magistrate issued
a certificate, under the Ontario Act, that he had personally examined Trenholm
and “I do hereby further certify that from such personal examination, and from
the evidence adduced thereon, I am of opinion that he is mentally ill, and
pending his transfer to an institution, I have committed him into the care and
custody of The Governor of Toronto Gaol.” This certificate and the doctors’
certificates were sent on the same day to the office of the Deputy Minister of
Health for Ontario. It is not clear how they were sent or the exact date they
were received, as the Deputy Minister of Health can only state that they were
received early in January. They were sent, however, by him by mail to the Superintendent
of the Ontario Hospital, Toronto, and received by the latter on January 10th.
[Page 306]
The Lieutenant-Governor’s warrant dated January 12th, 1938, which
is produced as being the justification for Trenholm’s detention at the Ontario
Hospital, prepared by the Deputy Minister of Health and signed by him, is as
follows:—
Albert Matthews
(Seal) Ontario
By
the Honourable
Albert
Matthews
Lieutenant-Governor of
the Province of Ontario
To the Superintendent, Common Gaol, Toronto
And to the Superintendent of the Ontario Hospital, Toronto,
And to the Provincial Bailiff,
Greeting:
Whereas the mental illness of John Trenholm at present
confined in the Common Gaol, Toronto, has been duly certified pursuant to and
in accordance with the statute in that behalf,
Now by this warrant I do hereby command and authorize you
the said Superintendent of the said Common Gaol, Toronto to deliver such person
into the custody of the Provincial Bailiff who shall receive and convey such
person to the said Ontario Hospital: Toronto.
And I do hereby command and authorize you the said
Provincial Bailiff to convey such person from the said Common Gaol, Toronto to
the said Ontario Hospital: Toronto.
And I do hereby command and authorize you the said
Superintendent of the said Ontario Hospital, to receive such person into your
custody in the said Ontario Hospital, there to safely keep him until I order
such person back to imprisonment, or until his discharge is directed by me or
other lawful authority:
Given under my Hand and Seal, in the City of Toronto, in the
County of York, this Twelfth day of January in the year of our Lord, one
thousand nine hundred and thirty‑eight and in the Second year of His
Majesty’s Reign.
By Command
B.T.
McGhie, F.V.
Johns,
Deputy Minister of Health. Assistant
Provincial Secretary
This warrant was sent to the Assistant Provincial Secretary who
signed it and in due course it was submitted to and signed by the
Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario. The form of warrant is that attached to the
regulations issued under the Ontario Act and to be used where subsection 1 of
section 32 of the present Act would apply. That sub-section reads:—
(1) The Lieutenant-Governor, upon evidence satisfactory to
him that any person imprisoned in any prison, reformatory, reformatory prison,
reformatory school, industrial school or industrial refuge for an offence under
the authority of any of the statutes of Ontario, or imprisoned for
[Page 307]
safe custody charged with an offence, or imprisoned for not
finding bail for good behaviour or to keep the peace, is mentally ill, mentally
deficient or epileptic, may order the removal of such person to a place of safe
keeping, and such person shall remain there, or in such other place of safe
keeping as the Lieutenant-Governor from time to time may order, until his
complete or partial recovery is certified to the satisfaction of the
Lieutenant-Governor, who may then order such person back to imprisonment if
then liable thereto, or otherwise to be discharged, provided that where such
person is confined in an institution he shall, if and when he is not liable to
imprisonment, be subject to the direction of the Minister, or such other person
as the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may designate, who may make such orders
or directions in respect of such person as he may deem proper.
That subsection could have no application to the circumstances of
this case as Trenholm was not imprisoned for an offence under the authority of
any of the statutes of Ontario, or imprisoned for safe custody charged with an
offence under the authority of any such statutes.
We are told, however, that the same form is used in Ontario when
it is intended to proceed under section 970 of the Criminal Code as
enacted in 1935. Subsection 1 of that section reads as follows:—
The Lieutenant-Governor, upon evidence satisfactory to him
that any person imprisoned in any prison other than a penitentiary for an
offence, or imprisoned in safe custody charged with an offence, or imprisoned
for not finding bail for good behaviour, or to keep the peace, is insane,
mentally ill, or mentally deficient, may order the removal of such person to a
place of safe keeping; and such person shall remain there, or in such other
place of safe keeping as the Lieutenant-Governor from time to time orders, until
his complete or partial recovery is certified to the satisfaction of the
Lieutenant-Governor, who may then order such person back to imprisonment, if
then liable thereto, or otherwise to be discharged; provided that where such
person is confined in a mental hospital or other provincial institution, he
shall, if and when he is not liable to be returned to imprisonment, be subject
to the direction of the provincial Minister of Health, or such other person as
the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may designate, who may make such orders or
directions in respect of such insane person as he may deem proper.
It is contended that the warrant was legally issued under this
section but in our view that is not so. The warrant is dated January 12th and
it is shown that it was not until January 15th that it was handed by the Deputy
Minister of Health to the Provincial Bailiff who, upon the same day, took
Trenholm from the Toronto gaol to the Ontario Hospital, Toronto. The remand on
the criminal charge had expired January 10th, and it cannot be said, therefore,
that at the time of the issue of the warrant,
[Page 308]
Trenholm was “imprisoned in safe custody charged with an offence”
within the meaning of section 970; it follows that there was no authority for
the issue of the warrant.
As already explained, it is not suggested on behalf of the
respondent—in fact it was disclaimed—that the warrant was issued as a result of
proceedings commenced under the Ontario Act by the information of January 7th,
1938. That this is so is borne out by the fact that the certificates of the two
doctors were issued before the swearing of the information, and furthermore, if
it was intended to proceed under the Ontario Act, the only warrant that would
be required thereunder, if all proper preliminary steps had been taken, would
be a warrant signed by the Deputy Minister of Health (present section 29,
subsection 2, and Form 11 attached to the Regulations).
There is therefore no authority for the appellant’s detention. It
was argued that this Court has no jurisdiction to hear and determine the appeal
because of the provisions of section 36 of the Supreme Court Act.
36. Subject to sections thirty-eight and thirty-nine hereof,
an appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court from any judgment of the highest court
of final resort now or hereafter established in any province of Canada
pronounced in a judicial proceeding, whether such court is a court of appeal or
of original jurisdiction (except in criminal causes and in proceedings for or
upon a writ of habeas corpus, certiorari or prohibition arising out of a
criminal charge, or in any case of proceedings for or upon a writ of habeas
corpus arising out of any claim for extradition made under any treaty)
where such judgment is,
(a) a final judgment; or
(b) a judgment granting a motion for a nonsuit or
directing a new trial.
Section 39 has no application as section 42 enacts:—
Nothing in the three sections last preceding shall affect
appeals in cases of mandamus and habeas corpus.
We are not concerned with section 38.
It is contended that these proceedings are “criminal causes” or
“proceedings for or upon a writ of habeas corpus * * * arising out of a
criminal charge.” The short answer to this contention is that after the expiry
of the remand there was no criminal cause or charge in existence, and the
application for the appellant’s discharge from the Ontario Hospital could not,
therefore, arise thereout. It arises out of his detention in the institution
under an invalid warrant issued without any legal authority.
[Page 309]
The Court is not sitting in judgment upon the action of the
Lieutenant-Governor in determining that the appellant was at the time mentally
ill. All that we are determining is that the Lieutenant-Governor had no
jurisdiction to direct the Superintendent of the Ontario Hospital to receive
and keep Trenholm and that an order should go for the appellant’s release.
In the course of these proceedings an affidavit, however, has
been made by the Superintendent of the Ontario Hospital stating that at a conference
of the medical staff of the institution held on December 22nd, 1938, the
following conclusions were reached:—
(a) that the said John Trenholm is mentally ill
(b) that the judgment of the said John Trenholm is
obviously impaired
(c) that the said John Trenholm is potentially
dangerous as a result of the mental illness from which he suffers
(d) that the said John Trenholm should be confined in
a mental hospital.
As against this, one of the doctors who signed a certificate on
January 6th, 1938, that Trenholm was mentally ill and a proper person to be
confined in an Ontario Hospital re‑examined Trenholm on December 2nd,
1938, and on December 7th, 1938, reported in writing the result of the
examination and concluded his letter as follows:—
I would consider this patient, while suffering from a mental
condition, might be discharged from the Ontario Hospital, if some responsible
party would assume some supervision over him, and that he be kept entirely away
from the environment of 227 Kenilworth avenue. If some arrangement were made to
carry out these two provisions, I feel the patient might be allowed out on
probation.
Since then the appellant’s wife has made an affidavit in which
she states her intention, if her husband were released, to remove with him to
some other city and to keep him removed from the environment of their present
home in Toronto. Under these circumstances and in view of the lapse of time
since the latest medical examination of the appellant, the order will not issue
until after the expiration of two weeks, to give the proper authorities an
opportunity to take such proceedings, if any, as they may deem advisable from
the point of view of the public and of the appellant.
[Page 310]
The judgment of Rinfret and Crocket JJ. (dissenting on the ground
of want of jurisdiction) was delivered by
CROCKET J.—I am of opinion that this appeal, which comes to us
from a judgment of the Ontario Court of Appeal, confirming the decision of Mr.
Justice Hogg, refusing to discharge the applicant from the custody of the
Superintendent of the Ontario Mental Hospital, falls within the clause of s. 36
of the Supreme Court Act, which expressly excepts appeals “in criminal
causes and in proceedings for or upon a writ of habeas corpus, certiorari
or prohibition arising out of a criminal charge” from the appellate
jurisdiction of this Court.
The applicant had the right on the return of the habeas corpus
order to have the legality of his imprisonment enquired into and determined by
the Judge, who granted the order, whether his imprisonment was under a warrant
which charged him with a criminal offence or not. The learned Judge, on
perusing the affidavit of the Superintendent of the Ontario Hospital, in which
he alleged the applicant was confined on a warrant of the Lieutenant-Governor,
dated the 12th day of January, 1938, and a copy of such warrant which was
annexed to the Superintendent’s affidavit, and other affidavits then produced
before him, and considering the whole question of the validity of the
applicant’s custody, held that the applicant was legally confined in that
hospital under the warrant of the Lieutenant-Governor, as authorized by
s. 970 of the Criminal Code. The relevant language of that section
of the Criminal Code is as follows:
The Lieutenant-Governor, upon evidence satisfactory to him
that any person imprisoned in any prison * * * for an offence, or imprisoned in
safe custody charged with an offence, * * * is insane, mentally ill, or
mentally deficient, may order the removal of such person to a place of safe keeping;
and such person shall remain there, or in such other place of safe keeping as
the Lieutenant-Governor from time to time orders, until his complete or partial
recovery is certified to the satisfaction of the Lieutenant-Governor, who may
then order such person back to imprisonment, if then liable thereto, or
otherwise to be discharged; * * *
The original warrant of the Lieutenant-Governor and the original
affidavits, which were produced before the learned Judge on the return of the habeas
corpus order, have been sent to the Registrar of this Court since the
hearing of this appeal.
[Page 311]
I think they shew that the proceedings before Mr. Justice Hogg
and the custody, from which the applicant sought his discharge, arose out of a
criminal charge within the meaning of the stated exception in s. 36 of the Supreme
Court Act and that this Court has, therefore, no jurisdiction to hear the
appeal as it has come before us.
Mr. Justice Hogg on the hearing of the habeas corpus
application distinctly held that Trenholm was then confined in the Ontario
Hospital by authority of the Lieutenant-Governor’s warrant, issued in
accordance with the terms of the above quoted section of the Criminal Code,
“as a step in the proceedings arising out of the charge against Trenholm of
attempted murder.”
It is now sought to take the appeal out of the exception of s. 36
upon the ground that Trenholm, who had been brought before a magistrate on
January 3rd, 1938, under a warrant issued on the original information in the
criminal case, had been remanded by the magistrate upon that charge until
January 10th, and thereupon committed to the Toronto gaol, and that, the period
of remand having expired when the Lieutenant-Governor’s warrant was issued,
under which he was transferred from the common gaol to the Ontario Hospital,
the Lieutenant-Governor’s warrant was void and of no effect.
This ground, which was not called to the attention of Mr. Justice
Hogg on the habeas corpus hearing before him, and seems to have been
discovered for the first time on the hearing of the appeal before this Court,
obviously goes to the question of the authority of the Lieutenant‑Governor
to issue the warrant under which Trenholm was held at the time of the habeas
corpus hearing. With all respect, the very statement of the ground itself
to my mind demonstrates that this appeal is an appeal in proceedings for or
upon a writ of habeas corpus, which has arisen out of a criminal charge
within the meaning of the clause of s. 36 of the Supreme Court Act above
quoted, which expressly excepts such a case from the jurisdiction of this
Court. While the point is one which, had it been discovered and suggested on
the habeas corpus hearing before Mr. Justice Hogg, sitting as a Supreme
Court Judge having original habeas corpus jurisdiction in the Province
of Ontario, it would clearly have been his duty to determine in considering the
question of the legality of the appli-
[Page 312]
cant’s custody at that time, it is to my mind not one which we
have any right to consider upon the present appeal, if the habeas corpus
proceedings now before us arose out of a criminal charge.
The only point we have now to determine upon the question of this
Court’s jurisdiction to hear an appeal from the judgment of the highest court
of final resort in Ontario under s. 36, is, not whether the learned Judge below
rightly or wrongly determined the question of the legality of Trenholm’s
present custody, but simply whether the habeas corpus proceedings before
him arose out of a criminal charge.
To hold that we have jurisdiction to hear the appeal on the
ground above mentioned plainly to my mind itself involves a decision upon the
merits of the habeas corpus application, which was solely directed to
the validity of Trenholm’s present custody. Such a decision would make the
merits of the habeas corpus application the test of the jurisdiction of
the Court to hear an appeal under s. 36 instead of what that section so
unequivocally prescribes as the test thereof, viz.: whether the application
itself and the proceedings thereupon have arisen out of a criminal charge. Such
a decision, it seems to me, with the greatest possible respect, would be to fly
directly in the face of the express, unambiguous and unconditional words of the
exception to this Court’s appellate jurisdiction, which Parliament has placed
in s. 36, and could be justified, in my judgment, only by reading them as
necessarily implying that the criminal charge, out of which the habeas
corpus proceedings have arisen, must be a valid subsisting charge, upon
which the applicant might still be prosecuted, and not one, in connection with
which he had any good legal ground to apply for his discharge from custody
under the provisions of the Habeas Corpus Act. If such a principle is to
be affirmed, it seems to me that the exception set out in s. 36 might just as
well be expunged, for I can conceive of no criminal case or criminal charge,
which, upon such a basis, could be brought within its terms.
I should perhaps say that it would have been quite another matter
if the question had come before us by way of appeal under the provisions of s.
58 from the decision of any one of the judges of this court in the exercise of
the concurrent original jurisdiction, with which its mem-
[Page 313]
bers individually are invested by s. 57 to issue the writ of habeas
corpus ad subjiciendum for the purpose of an enquiry into the cause of
commitment in any criminal case under any Act of the Parliament of Canada.
For these reasons I would quash the appeal as one which the Court
has no jurisdiction to hear.
DAVIS J.—I concur in the judgment of my brother Kerwin and would
only add a word as to the remand. By sec. 680 the justice may order the accused
person to be brought before him, or before any other justice for the same
territorial division, at any time before the expiration of the time for which
such person has been remanded. But when a remand has expired without any
further hearing or appearance the justice becomes functus and thereafter
the accused cannot be said to be imprisoned in safe custody “charged with an
offence” within the meaning of sec. 970. That being so, there was no authority
under said sec. 970 in the Lieutenant‑Governor, subsequent to the
expiration of the remand, for the issue of the warrant in question. 59 J.P. 682.
Stone’s Justices’ Manual, 62nd edition, pp. 34-35.
Appeal allowed with costs.
Solicitor for the appellant: Paul I.B. Hinds.
Solicitor for the respondent: Kenneth G. Gray.