Framing the Issues

• Author: Karen Eltis
• Profession: University of Ottawa Columbia Law School
• Pages: 11-17

11

CHAPTER 1:

FRAMING THE ISSUES

A. INTRODUCTION

Online judgment databases and the cour t’s duty to respect litigant pri-

va cy, ex parte email c ommunication,1 inadvertently emailed dra deci-

sions and the issue of government-owned and operated court servers as

it relates to judic ial indep endence,2 are but a few of the plentiful issues

arising with greater — indeed disconcerting — frequency. e cumulative

eect of these, it stands to reason, is ulti mately to prompt courts to revisit

the conventional construction of fundamental concepts such as disclo-

sure, accountability, competence — even impartiality — a nd the balance to

be struck between foundational values such as transparency and privacy

in the modern age.3

In order to permit courts to stay current in a time of rapid if not per-

petual change, and with a view to bringing some clarity to judging in

times of evolving technology, the following wil l endeavour to provide an

1 Je Coen, “TV Pitchman Held in Contempt f or E-mail Deluge on Judge” (11

February 2010), online: http://articles.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010-02-11/

news/28528888_1_kevin-trudeau-infomercial-pitchman- e-mail-attack.

2 In R v Lippé, [1991] 2 SCR 114 at para 45, Lamer CJ dened “judicial independ-

ence” as independence from government, but interpreted “government” broadly

enough to include “any person or body, which can exert pressure o n the judiciary

through authority under the state.”

3 See T David Marshall, Judicial Conduct and Accountability (Toronto: Carswell, 1995),

and Martin L Friedland, A Place Apart: Judicial Independence and Accountability in

Canada (Ottawa: Canadian Judicial Council, 1995).