A criminal appeal concerning a prosecution of a corporation for selling goods on Sunday contrary to the Lord’s Day Act.
The Court held that any accused may challenge the constitutionality of the law under which it is prosecuted, and that recourse to s. 24 was unnecessary where the challenge was to the legislation itself under s. 52.
The Act’s purpose was found to be the compulsion of Christian Sabbath observance, which infringed freedom of conscience and religion under s. 2(a) of the Charter.
That infringement was not saved by s. 1, although the statute was held to fall within Parliament’s criminal law power under s. 91(27).
