Law & Ethics, 11% Flashcards
What is Voir Dire?
A special hearing where a judge decides if evidence can be presented at trial.
What is Volenti Non-Fit Injuria?
It is a type of common law defense, where the worker is thought to have accepted the risks of the job because they were made aware of the hazards and did not quit.
What is the Fellow Servant Rule?
A type of common law defense where the employer claims innocence because a co-worker was the cause of the injury.
What is Contributory Negligence in the context of a legal defense?
A type of common law defense where the employer claims innocence because the worker was the cause of their own injury.
What is Violation of Employer’s Rules in the context of a legal defense?
A type of common law defense where the employer claims innocence because the worker failed to follow the employers rules, resulting in the injury.
What is Mens Rea?
“guilty mind”. There was an intent to do wrong or knowledge that it was wrong.
In many cases this must be proven for someone to be punished.
What is Actus Reus?
“prohibited act”
What is absolute and strict liability.
Absolute liability means that if there was Actus Reus, then you are responsible without Mens Rea - no matter the circumstances.
Strict liability means that if there was Actus Reus, then you are responsible even without Mens Rea BUT you can defend yourself with due diligence (you did a reasonable amount to try and prevent).
What is Tort Law?
Tort law is where a wrong was done to a person who can sue the offender, as opposed to criminal law where the wrong is punishable by the state.
Nuisance, negligence, assault, defamation, and trespassing are all types of Tort Law.
In Tort Law, the standard of proof must be beyond a reasonable doubt.
What is Vicarious Liability?
Vicarious liability is where one entity is liable for acts/omissions of another entity.
Discuss product liability and warranties.
A warranty is a guarantee of a products specifications or suitability for certain uses/safety/lifespan.
An express warranty is a warranty that is in writing.
An implied warranty is where there is no written warranty but that the warranty is implied by the product being sold that it is suitable for it’s intended use and in good working condition.
What is occupier’s liability?
An area of private law where someone can sue an occupant for damages incurred when they entered a property.
CRSTs may be asked to create visitor safety programs as due diligence against lawsuits of this nature.
What is a Policy Health and Safety Committee?
In workplaces under federal jurisdiction, a Workplace Health and Safety committee is required when there are 20+ employees, and a representative when there are <20.
When there are 300+ employees (across Canada) there must be a Policy Health and Safety Committee which addresses issues that cannot effectively be dealt with by the individual H&S reps/committees.
Discuss the Paramountcy Doctrine.
Matters of shared jurisdiction (public health, environment, and farming) can be regulated by both provincial and federal governments.
Where there is a conflict in regulation, the federal regulations take priority (not the more stringent regulations).
What is Criminal Law?
Criminal law is always federal.
Four principles of criminal law are:
1, Presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
2, The burden of proof is on the Crown.
3, Proof of guilt must be beyond reasonable doubt.
4, Proof is made during a fair and public hearing.
