1. HISTORICAL INFLUENCES ON CANADIAN LAW

2. Key Terms related to History of Law
Common law and Case law
Precedent (rule of)-following legal rules established in prev. court cases if the cases are the same or similar.
Stare Decisis-Latin ‘to stand by what has been decided’ –supports rule of precedent
Rule of law-no one is exempt or above the law
Appeal-challenging a previous court decision

3. Although Canadian law reflects aspects of Mosaic, Greek, Roman, and French law, it is the ____________ that has had the most influence in Canada.

4. Early British Law
When the Romans left Britain around the year 410 (Middle Ages), the law in Britain began to reflect local customs and traditions, which included:
Trial by _____
Trial by jury came later

5. Trial By Ordeal
Had accused undergo some sort of ordeal; injured accused.
Injury was bandaged and exposed after a certain number of days.
If wound was healing it was a sign that god had judged person innocent.
If it was infected the person was found guilty
Examples: trial by hot iron, hot water, fire, cold water (thrown in water; sink = innocent, float = guilty)
Used when a lord sitting in judgment was unable to reach a verdict of guilt or innocence based on facts and witnesses
God was the judge, since it was believed that evil could never triumph over good

6. Trial By Oath
Required friends of the accused to ________________ that he/she was innocent.
also called compurgation –persons (usually 12) to swear they believe the oath of the accused.
if the friends complied, ______________ (most people at this time feared god’s wrath if they lied under oath, so it was likely that they would only tell the truth).

7. Trial By Combat determined guilt or innocence by _______________
Was used to settle a civil disagreement
it was presumed that _____ would be on the side of the _____________.
The winner of the fight was presumed to be innocent or right.

8. Appeals
Later in Britain, if people were dissatisfied with court decisions, they could APPEAL to the monarch, who had the authority __________.
The believed in divine right (the concept that monarchs had divine right/power to rule-that they were accountable to god)
Today, we still have an appeal process of applying to a higher court to have the decision reviewed.