Heppner v. The Queen

THE CHIEF JUSTICE—We do not need to hear you, Mr. Deverell. We are all of the opinion that on the facts of this case, the single issue being the effect of the alleged drunkenness of the accused on his culpability of murder, the trial judge did not commit any reversible error in the way in which he dealt with the law, especially when regard is had to his concluding summation to the jury, or in the way in which he dealt with the evidence as it related to the limited position of the defence. The appeal therefore fails and must be dismissed.

Before parting with this case, we wish to emphasize that a criminal appeal which is brought here as of right, under s. 618(1)(a) of the Criminal Code, by reason of a dissent on questions of law in the Court below, should be perfected in compliance with s. 606 of the Criminal Code which

[Page 703]

requires that the formal judgment must specify the ground or grounds in law upon which the dissent is based. That was not done in this case, and this Court has had occasion to complain of similar failures in other cases, in some of which it was unclear from the dissenting reasons whether the dissent turned on a question of law.

Solicitor for the appellant: A. McEachern, Vancouver.

Solicitor for the respondent: W.H. Deverell, Vancouver.