Majority
The judgment of Cartwright C.J. and Spence J. was delivered by
CARTWRIGHT C.J.
The common law is a historical development rather than a logical whole, and the fact that a particular doctrine does not logically accord with another or others is no ground for its rejection.
…but English law is free neither of some anomalies nor of everything illogical, but there is no reason for extending them.
Accordingly any statement by an accused relative to the offence charged is inadmissible against him if made involuntarily.
The judgment of Fauteux and Judson JJ. was delivered by
JUDSON J. (dissenting)
Since Bram v. United States, 168 U.S. 532 (1897), the federal courts have generally applied the rules for confessions to admissions and exculpatory statements, although there have been occasional dicta to the contrary. In Bram, the defendant had been told that another suspect had seen him commit the crime, to which he replied “he could not see me from there.” Although the statement was intended as a denial of the accusation, the prosecution offered it on the theory that the accused had tacitly admitted that the suspect might have seen the crime from some other place. The Supreme Court, in requiring the application of voluntariness rules, seemed unconcerned by the exculpatory nature of the statement.
There is a certain trend in recent years to adopt this liberal viewpoint. In People v. Atchley, the Supreme Court of California ruled that “any statement by an accused relative to the offense charged is inadmissible against him if made involuntarily.” In doing so, the court that had once been so quick to distinguish between confessions and admissions in the application of the voluntariness rules pointed out that the rationale for exclusion was equally persuasive for both kinds of statement. In Oregon, a 1957 amendment to the Criminal Code extended the rules for confessions to cover admissions. And Rule 63(6) of the Uniform Rules of Evidence, which is in effect in Kansas, requires a showing of voluntariness for any statement “relative to the
offence charged.” But in spite of this trend, probably most states still accept Wigmore’s view that admissions are not subject to the rules of voluntariness.
The judgment of Abbott, Martland, Ritchie, Hall, Spence and Pigeon JJ. was delivered by
HALL J.
That she the said Ruth Thelma Piche on or about the 1st day of November, A.D. 1968 at the City of
St. Vital in the Eastern Judicial District in the Province of Manitoba did unlawfully murder Leslie Harrison Pascoe and thereby committed non-capital murder.
I lay there about five or ten minutes and couldn’t go to sleep so I got up and telephoned my mother, she was home so I told her I was coming over to her place. I then ’phoned for a taxi, Duffy’s, then went and dressed Lisa. I put a coat, a sweater, shoes and socks on her and I too got dressed. Les was still asleep. I left the house at 1.50 in the morning I think. After I arrived at my mother’s I slept on
the chesterfield with Lisa. When I got there my mother was up and so was her boarder Maurice Laliberty. I told them we’d had a fight and that I wanted to stay with my mom.
The only point in issue, as far as I am able to see, is whether this statement was exculpatory or inculpatory. The matter is not free from doubt; it has caused great difficulty to the profession and the bench over the years. With respect, the conflicting decisions have added to the confusion rather than helped to solve the problem. Clear and easily understandable guide lines are necessary.
Without difficulty I hold that in this case the statement was exculpatory and that consequently the rule as to confessions does not apply. It ought to have been ruled admissible without a voir dire. With respect for those who hold a contrary view, I have no hesitation in concluding that the learned trial Judge was in error in proceeding with a trial within a trial and in ruling that the statement was inculpatory.
We should be clear on what the Crown’s submission involves. The Crown asks for the introduction in evidence of a statement which the learned trial Judge has, with justification, found to have been induced by persons in authority and which therefore could not qualify as voluntary. The finding of the Court against voluntariness makes no difference, says the Crown. Voluntary or involuntary, the statement was admissible, because it was exculpatory. So we are being invited to set aside the jury’s verdict of acquittal in order that on a new trial this involuntary, induced statement should be placed before the jury. Unless clearly obliged by law to do so a court in my view should be slow to accede to such a course.
This lends weight to the conclusion I have reached that the present appeal goes beyond a mere question of law. In the light of that conclusion I could end here by dismissing this appeal for lack of jurisdiction. But if I should be wrong in this—and the fact that the other members of the Court take an opposing view makes this a distinct possibility—it might be desirable for me to add some observations on issues that become applicable if jurisdiction to hear this appeal exists.
I move to another issue. Assuming, contrary to the learned Judge’s ruling, that the statement was wholly exculpatory, is it then outside the rule? Does it become admissible without any proof that it was voluntary? Yes, say most Canadian judges. No, say a few dissenters. The jurisprudence on the subject is referred to in the judgment of my brother Monnin. But, somewhat surprisingly, till now there has been no express majority opinion on the point by the Supreme Court of Canada. Hence the question may still be regarded as open. That certainly appeared to be the view of the Court of Appeal of Ontario when,
in the relatively recent case of Reg. vs. Black and Mackie (1966) 1 O.R. 683, the majority could write thus:
It is quite clear that the rules which govern the admission of the confession relate generally to what may be called inculpatory statements; if the statement is totally exculpatory in its nature other considerations may or may not apply. The cases are in conflict on this point.
But, somewhat surprisingly, till now there has been no express majority opinion on the point by the Supreme Court of Canada. Hence the question may still be regarded as open.
It has long been established as a positive rule of English criminal law, that no statement by an accused is admissible in evidence against him unless it is shewn by the prosecution to have been a voluntary statement, in the sense that it has not been obtained from him either by fear of prejudice or hope of advantage exercised or held out by a person in authority. The principle is as old as Lord Hale. The burden of proof in the matter has been decided by high authority in recent times in Reg. v. Thompson, (1893) 2 Q.B. 12… (Emphasis added)
The cases of Ibrahim v. Rex, (1914) A.C. 599, Rex v. Voisin, (1918) 1 K.B. 531 and Rex v. Prosko, 63 S.C.R. 226, lay it down that the fundamental question is whether the statement is voluntary. No doubt arrest and the presence of officers tend to arouse apprehension which a warning may or may not suffice to remove, and the rule is directed against the danger of improperly instigated or induced or coerced admissions. It is the doubt cast on the truth of the statement arising from the circumstances in which it is made that gives rise to the rule. What the statement should be is that of a man free in volition from the compulsions or inducements of authority and what is sought is assurance that that is the case. The underlying and controlling question then remains: is the statement freely and voluntarily made?
Confessions are thus only one species of admissions; and all other admissions than those which directly touch the fact of guilt are without the scope of the peculiar rules affecting the use of confessions.
It is urged by the Government, however, that such requirement should not apply to exculpatory statements, that is, those that explain actions rather than admit guilt. It is thought that exculpatory statements do not have behind them the pressure of coercion or the inducement of escaping the consequences of crime. This accords with Professor Wigmore’s view. See note 7, supra. The statements here are exculpatory. See summary, supra. There is no opinion of this Court declaring or declining such an exception. We conclude that exculpatory statements, however, may not differ from other admissions of incriminating facts. Given when the accused is under suspicion, they become questionable just as testimony by witnesses to other extrajudicial statements of the accused.
The Government also contends that Toy’s declarations should be admissible because they were
ostensibly exculpatory rather than incriminating. There are two answers to this argument. First, the statements soon turned out to be incriminating, for they led directly to the evidence which implicated Toy. Second, when circumstances are shown such as those which induced these declarations, it is immaterial whether the declarations be termed ‘exculpatory’. Thus we find no substantial reason to omit Toy’s declarations from the protection of the exclusionary rule.
Then it was argued that there is a difference between confessions and admissions which fall short of a full confession… But there appears to be no English case for more than a century in which an admission induced by a threat or promise has been admitted in evidence where a full confession would have been excluded… I can see no justification in principle for the distinction. In similar circumstances one man induced by a threat makes a full confession and another induced by the same threat makes one or more incriminating admissions. Unless the law is to be reduced to a mere collection of unrelated rules, I see no distinction between these cases. And it is noteworthy that the new Judges’ Rules published in 1964 (Home Office Circular No. 31/1964, p. 5) make no such distinction. They are clear and emphatic:
…(e) That it is a fundamental condition of the admissibility in evidence against any person, equally of any oral answer given by that person
to a question put by a police officer, or of any statement (my italics) made by that person that it shall have been voluntary in the sense that it has not been obtained from him by fear of prejudice or hope of advantage exercised or held out by a person in authority or by oppression. The principle set out in paragraph (e) above is overriding and applicable in all cases.
The classic formulation of the principle applicable to the admissibility of confessions appears in Lord Sumner’s speech in Ibrahim v. R. (1914) A.C. 599 at pp. 609-10. “It has long been established as a positive rule of English criminal law that no statement by an accused is admissible in evidence against him unless it is shown by the prosecution to have been a voluntary statement in the sense that it had not been obtained from him either by fear of prejudice or hope of advantage exercised or held out by a person in authority. The principle is as old as Hale.”
Footnotes
- [1] (1969), 69 W.W.R. 336, [1970] 1 C.C.C. 257, 9 C.R.N.S. 311.
- [2] [1914] A.C. 599.
- [3] [1968] S.C.R. 902, 4 C.R.N.S. 205, [1969] 1 C.C.C. 197, 70 D.L.R. (2d) 530.
- [4] [1952] A.C. 716.
- [5] (1959), 346 P. 2d 764.
- [6] (1969), 69 W.W.R. 336, [1970] 1 C.C.C. 257, 9 C.R.N.S. 311
- [7] [1949] S.C.R. 262, 7 C.R. 427, 94 C.C.C. 1, [1949] 3 D.L.R. 81.
- [8] (1913), 4 W.W.R. 185, 6 Alta. L.R. 112, 21 C.C.C. 98, 10 D.L.R. 475.
- [9] [1966] 1 O.R. 683, 49 C.R. 357, [1966] 3 C.C.C. 187, 54 D.L.R. (2d) 674.
- [10] [1945] 1 W.W.R. 15, 83 C.C.C. 306, [1945] 2 D.L.R. 248.
- [11] [1943] S.C.R. 250, 79 C.C.C. 221, [1943] 2 D.L.R. 417.
- [12] [1914] A.C. 599.
- [13] (1967), 51 Cr. App. R. 123.
- [14] (1969), 69 W.W.R. 336, [1970] 1 C.C.C. 257, 9 C.R.N.S. 311.
- [15] [1949] S.C.R. 262, 7 C.R. 427, 94 C.C.C. 1, [1949] 3 D.L.R. 81.
- [16] [1914] A.C. 599.
- [17] (1954), 75 S.Ct. 158.
- [18] (1963), 83 S.Ct. 407.
- [19] [1967] 1 A.C. 760.
Cases cited
- Boudreau v. The King Boudreau v. The King, supra
- Regina v. Black and Mackie Regina v. Black and Mackie, supra
- Reg. vs. Black and Mackie 1 O.R. 683
- A.C. 599 A.C. 599 pp 609-10
- 7 7, supra
- summary summary, supra
Statutes and regulations cited
-
Unresolved citations
- s. 11 of the Criminal Justice Act
- paragraph (e)