SUPREME COURT: RULE 18A

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What you Should Know About SUPREME COURT Rule 18A and the Denial of Jury Trials due to Rule 18A

Be prepared and informed when faced with any Rule of Courts most particularly Rule 18A.

The definition of Rule 18A as per the Canadian Legal Dictionary:

A Rule of the Supreme Court of British Columbia providing for the summary trial, on affidavits, of civil actions where a judge is able fairly to decide the case or an issue in the case, usually without hearing witnesses. This process is available only in British Columbia.

Myth: Rule18A was brought into force in 1986 to meet the needs of the day: a rising volume of litigation with concomitant increases in costs and delay.

Myth: Fair trial under Rule 18A.

Important Fact: Madam Chief Justice McLachlin, was one of the major key players at implementing Rule 18A to the Supreme Court Rules of B.C.

In 1988 Beverly McLachlin was elevated to the position of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, where she served until her appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada in 1989. She was appointed Chief Justice of Canada on January 7, 2000.

In 1989, same year Beverly McLachlin was elevated to the highhest court in Canada, Rule 18A was expanded so that a summary trial could be held even though one party had filed a jury notice.

In effect the rule then abolished both the right to trial as we have known it and also the right to jury in civil cases --Dugald Christie--

In effect, Madam Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin holds the distinct position of killing the Jury Trial starting in British Columbia and then Rule18A spread across the country like a bad virus---

Dugald Christie, a practicing lawyer, who died on July 31, 06, as a result of being tragically hit by a car en route to Ottawa by bicycle, delivering a Petition to Prime Minsiter Stephen Harper, calling for Reform to the Justice System, had given his own legal opinion regarding Rule 18A and the following is what he had written in 1999 in an unpublished book:

Extract of Dugald Christie's book on Rule 18A