The idea of eliminating civil juries or reducing their use is meeting opposition from the legal community, but it is also receiving some support from those who say juries add time and expense to the civil-justice system
Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press
“I am considering an amendment to the Courts of Justice Act to eliminate some or all civil jury trials,” he says in the letter to members of the legal community, adding that they have until June 15 to make their views known. He asks them to list any types of legal actions that they believe should still be permitted juries.
“If the City of Toronto was contemplating changing the direction of travel on a one-way street, they would take more than 10 days,” Scott Maidment, outgoing president of the Advocates’ Society, a legal organization, said. His group received an e-mail from the Attorney-General on June 5 at 6:24 p.m., leaving just five business days to consider the matter.
The historical purpose of civil juries was to ensure that outcomes reflected the “sensibility and conscience” of the community, says Toronto lawyer Will McDowell, a former assistant deputy minister of justice with the federal government, where he had responsibility for civil litigation. He said some cases deserve “a whacking big damages award,” and judges tend to be reluctant to stray from precedent.
“It’s a bit of a barometer. We all want to see what the community thinks of certain conduct,” he said. “That’s exquisitely important in the area of police liability right now. Whereas a judge is a human being, but she or he is highly trained and is going to apply a different standard than the six members of the community.”
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