Morris C. Shumiatcher

The appellant challenged the validity of the abortion provisions in section 251 of the Criminal Code, arguing they violated the Charter rights of the foetus.

Before the appeal reached the Supreme Court of Canada, section 251 was struck down in its entirety in a separate decision.

The Court held that the appeal was moot because the underlying legislation no longer existed, eliminating the concrete legal dispute.

The Court declined to exercise its discretion to hear the moot case, citing judicial economy and the need to respect its adjudicative role.

Furthermore, the Court found the appellant had lost his standing to pursue the appeal since the legislative context for his original public interest standing had disappeared.

The appellant wife appealed a Court of Appeal decision that reduced her share of matrimonial property by applying the 'Capital Base Theory'.

The trial judge had ordered an equal division of the net family assets, which included a large farming operation built from the respondent husband's pre-marital assets.

The Supreme Court of Canada allowed the appeal, holding that the Capital Base Theory is incompatible with the Saskatchewan Matrimonial Property Act's presumption of equal distribution and its specific rules for valuing pre-marital exemptions.

The Court restored the trial judge's equal division but upheld the Court of Appeal's reduction of the interest rate on the wife's lump sum payment to 5 per cent under the federal Interest Act.

The respondent, a concerned citizen and taxpayer, sought a declaration that the therapeutic abortion provisions of the Criminal Code were invalid under the Canadian Bill of Rights.

The appellants challenged the jurisdiction of the provincial superior court and the respondent's standing to bring the action.

The Supreme Court of Canada held that the respondent had public interest standing to challenge the legislation, as there was a serious issue as to its validity, he had a genuine interest as a citizen, and there was no other reasonable and effective manner in which the issue could be brought before the court.