POLS 3130 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Fundamental Justice, Black Letter Law
15 Dec 2017
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Document Summary
Raise profile of an issue: defend political and legal advanced against groups/ government. Depending on the context of the situation they may be the only place to enforce change in social policy. If people exhaust all of their political outlets they may have no other choice. If they see a case that is of interest they will intervene. Two cases for consideration: r v gayme. 18 year old, arrested for assaulting a 15 year old girl in 1983. Defence of consent and honest by mistake belief in consent. Argued complainants had frequently participated in sexual acts with students. Wanted to cross examine complainant about sexual conduct. They wanted to drag her past up to see if she actually consented. Section 276 and 277 of criminal code limited the admissibility about past sexual conduct. Deference lawyer asks judge to declare sections unconstitutional and to allow cross examination. Logic being used: she"s sexually promiscuous so why is my client being charged.
