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This article puts forward a unifying principle for the exceptions to contractual enforcement, including unconscionability, undue influence, duress, and mistake. In coming to a unified analysis, this article explains and defends three general premises. First, contract law should be understood as operating to maximize societal welfare in the aggregate. Second, contractual enforcement encourages and enforces welfare-enhancing agreements, but only if we can assume that each party is able to rationally consider her own self-interest. Third, agreements that were rationally welfare-enhancing when made should be enforced later even in cases of regret. Based on these premises, the analysis of unenforceability of unfair contracts can be reduced to two questions: whether, in the circumstances, parties to a contract were rationally able to consider and protect their self-interest, and, if not, whether the other side knew or ought to have known this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines why accused persons in pre-trial detention decide to plead guilty. Relying on the understanding of coercion proposed by Brunk, the article go beyond his analysis to show how pre-trial detention can exert pressure on an accused individual, who then feels coerced into pleading guilty. Interviews with 12 accused and 12 lawyers showed that in certain situations pre-trial detention can be a source of coercion, particularly if there are lengthy procedural delays and eventual sentences can be expected to be fairly short. However, there are other situations in which custodial remand acts as an inducement rather than as coercion or does not exert any pressure on the accused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the issues of constitutional basis for the duress and necessity defences in the Canadian courts. Topics discusses include role of courts in granting defences of duress and necessity, referred to as the principle of moral involuntariness under Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; problems inherent in the Court's current conceptualization of the duress and necessity defences; and evaluation of principles under status of principles of fundamental justice.

The majority of refugees come from destabilized states and conflict zones where threats and fear are endemic, and immediate escape is not always possible. These environments may necessitate that a person commit crimes to prevent harm to themselves or third parties before they cross borders and seek international protection. Under Canada's current refugee regime, such persons may be prevented from accessing refugee protection and status on the basis of criminality. Doctrinal complexities concerning available defences and procedural incoherencies complicate Canada's refugee decision making and have the potential to perpetuate grave injustices against refugee claimants. The author argues that defences should be available in any refugee case where status is denied on the basis of criminality, and emphasizes the unique and enhanced role that defences should play in this context. Further, that current confusion about when and how defences ought to be applied by decision makers in Canada's refugee system must be resolved such that all exculpatory factors are fully and properly considered where criminality is alleged. Uncertainty over relevant sources of law underpins significant inconsistency in decision making and is problematic given important substantive differences between domestic and international criminal law. The article discusses the implications for the defence of duress in particular, given its relevance to many refugee claimants. The author identifies sources of law that must be considered by decision makers in refugee inadmissibility and exclusion cases, and specifies three aspects of the defence of duress that are critical in this context: temporal connection, implied threats and the modified objective standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the three problems with both the current statutory law of duress as well as how moral voluntariness has been enshrined as a principle of fundamental justice with the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the case R. v. Ruzic regarding the Canadian criminal law.

The article reports the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in the court case 'R. v. Aravena' in which the court held that common law defence of duress is available to persons charged as parties to a murder.

The article offers information on the section 17 of the Criminal Code with reference to the court case R. v. Ruzic at the Supreme Court of Canada. Topics discussed include the defendant in the court case was accused for importing heroin which she claims as a crime under duress, the section 17 violating the Section seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as it denies the defense of duress, and the effect of new self-defense provisions.

The article focuses on the application of the air of reality test created by the Supreme Court of Canada to the legal defenses of justifications and excuses. Topics discussed include the right of accused person to make a defense, the concepts of fundamental justice encapsulated by the right such as innocence, fair trial, and due process and defenses of duress, necessity, and self-defense. It also mentions legislative changes to statutory defenses.

The article focuses on legal, moral, and ethical issues surrounding the Mr. Big Operations (MBOs), an investigation technique used by undercover police investigators in Canada such as false confessions, abuse of process, and police coercion. Topics discussed include issues related to the admissibility of MBOs addressed by the Canada Supreme Court in cases of R v. Hart and R v. Mack, the amicus curiae involved in Hart case and the justice administration in Canada.

Purpose – In spite of past and current efforts at implementing effective rehabilitative interventions in carceral settings, institutions of confinement are primarily concerned with the maintenance of order within their walls. The purpose of this paper is to better understand associations between inmates’ developmental background and the experience of institutional discipline, to collect information on childhood maltreatment and disciplinary measures for a sample of Canadian prisoners. Design/methodology/approach – Information relative to socio-economic background, childhood maltreatment and experience of discipline while in custody was obtained using face-to-face interviews and institutional file review for a sample of 416 male and 106 female offenders in Canadian provincial institutions. Findings – Results from logistic regression analyses provided support for the association between childhood maltreatment and the experience of discipline, specifically in the form of increased monitoring from correctional staff. Furthermore, this association was found to be more pronounced for female offenders. Research limitations/implications – The findings highlight the need to incorporate a developmental perspective to current understanding of the use of disciplinary interventions in a prison environment. Such an approach may allow for preventing the enactment of a cycle of coercion, with negative consequences for the inmates. Originality/value – This study is original in its use of latent variable analytic methods to uncover the structure underlying the construct of childhood maltreatment in adult offenders. In addition, it provides valuable data of interest to researchers, corrections personnel and policy makers on the possible links between earlier developmental experiences and adjustment to the prison environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on Canada's statutory and common law defences as of October 2013, focusing on various legal cases and the duress defence in relation to Section 17 of the nation's Criminal Code and Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which address involuntary behavior and threats of immediate death or bodily harm. The author suggests that it does not make sense to have different proportionality tests for defences which are as similar as necessity and duress.

Taken separately, the Supreme Court of Canada's clarification of the defence of duress in R v Ryan and Parliament's new statutory version of self-defence appear to have brought more clarity to the law of defences. However, taken together, they may have three unintended consequences. First, the Court's introduction of moral involuntariness as a principle of fundamental justice in Ryan requires that the defence of necessity be revised to bring it into line with section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Second, the new self-defence provision expands the scope of that defence to cover situations now covered by the defence of duress. Third, this expansion of self-defence to cover some situations previously covered by duress serves to narrow common law duress to the point of extinction, even though statutory duress remains. In the result, the bifurcation of duress ended by the Supreme Court in Ryan has been revived by Parliament: principals must rely on statutory duress, while parties must rely on self-defence. The author highlights the intricate relationships between duress, self-defence and necessity, calls for a re-evaluation of the constitutionality of the defence of necessity, and draws attention to the potential implications of the new self-defence provision for the law of defences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada in the case of R v Ryan, 2013 SCC 3. This is a very significant decision from a variety of perspectives. The judgment is an important addition to the Canadian criminal law jurisprudence as it clarifies the scope of the defence of duress. However, from a feminist perspective, the case also highlights issues relating to situations in which victims of domestic violence eventually kill their partners following long cycles of abuse. In addition, the judgment serves as a reminder of the substantial problems which still exist regarding the responses of criminal justice systems to victims of domestic violence and the abuse they have suffered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the law of religious freedom in Canada in 2013, as well as Canada's commitment to multiculturalism. Topics include the prevention of coercion, the reinforcement of social hierarchies, and the marginalization of minority groups within Canada. Information is provided on religious tolerance and the courts' treatment of religious freedom.

The article focuses on the criminal and contractual bases of duress in Canada, Commonwealth and the U.S. The enforcement of binding agreements, related contract law and threat of duress in the enforcement purpose are discussed. It also discusses the criminal defense perspective of the law of duress, related controversies and the historical, philosophical and the current state of defense with reference to civil and criminal application along with the need of change in the current laws.

The article focuses on the legal issues surrounding surrogate motherhood in Canada. Topics include the use of social science to create a narrative on surrogate mothers in the West, the lack of law and policy governing surrogate motherhood in Canada, and the coercion or manipulation of surrogate mothers by intending parents.

This article discusses the application of duress in contract law in Canada. It reflects on a court's ruling about a preliminary issue of law in relation to duress in the English Court of Appeal. It explores the observance of the requirements of rescission for duress at common law by courts. In addition, the article analyzes the distinction between common law duress and undue influence and the creation of restitution in order to rescind for duress. The implication of a remedial assimilation of duress with undue influence is also discussed.

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