''Nicholson v Haldimand-Norfolk Reg Police Commrs'',

979 Year 979 (Roman numerals, CMLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. It was the 979th year of the Common Era and the Anno Domini designation, the 979th year of the 1st millennium, the 79th year of the 10th century, ...

1 SCR 311, is a leading decision of the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...

Canadian administrative law Canadian administrative law is the body of law "that applies to all administrative decisions, whether issued by front-line officials, ministers, economic regulatory agencies, or administrative tribunals, with interpretations of law and exercises ...

. The decision was a landmark reform of administrative law, in which the Court significantly increased the degree of court intervention on procedural grounds. The Court stated that procedural fairness exists on a continuum and that parties are entitled to a certain degree of it based on the setting and their circumstances. Prior to this decision, procedural fairness only applied to tribunals that were classified as "

judicial The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

" or "

quasi-judicial A quasi-judicial body is a non-judicial body which can interpret law. It is an entity such as an arbitration panel or tribunal board, which can be a public administrative agency (not part of the judicial branch of government) but also a contra ...

Background

Nicholson was employed for a period of 15 months by the regional police of

Haldimand County Haldimand County is a rural city-status single-tier municipality on the Niagara Peninsula in Southern Ontario, Canada, on the north shore of Lake Erie, and on the Grand River. Despite its name, it is no longer a county by definition, as all mu ...

when he was terminated without any reason given. The employer claimed that the ''Police Act'' allowed them to dismiss him at will, as he was still within an 18-month

probationary period In a workplace setting, probation (or a probationary period) is a status given to new employees and trainees of a company, business, or organization. This status allows a supervisor, training official, or manager to evaluate the progress and s ...

of employment. Nicholson, however, argued that he had a common law right to be treated fairly and be notified of the reasons for his termination. The issue before the Supreme Court of Canada was whether Nicholson's employers were entitled to terminate him without a hearing and without any reasons given.

Opinion of the Court

A majority Court found that Nicholson was entitled to a common law duty of fairness and so should have been able to make submissions to the employer and should have been notified orally or in writing. This paralleled the UK

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

decision in ''

Ridge v Baldwin ''Ridge v Baldwin''

964 Year 964 ( CMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Nikephoros II continues the reconquest of south-eastern Anatolia (modern Turkey). He recaptures Cyp ...

AC 40 was a UK labour law case heard by the Judicial functions of the House of Lords, House of Lords. The decision extended the doctrine of natural justice (procedural fairness in judicial hearings) into the realm of ad ...

'', which was quoted with approval by Laskin C.J. Laskin noted the difficulty in classifying decisions as "quasi-judicial" or administrative, which often decided the outcome of cases:

e classification of statutory functions as judicial, quasi-judicial or administrative is often very difficult, to say the least; and to endow some with procedural protection while denying others any at all would work injustice when the results of statutory decisions raise the same serious consequences for those adversely affected, regardless of the classifications of the function in question.
979 Year 979 (Roman numerals, CMLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. It was the 979th year of the Common Era and the Anno Domini designation, the 979th year of the 1st millennium, the 79th year of the 10th century, ...
1 SCR 311 at para 23.

Although Laskin did not explicitly reject the categorization of decisions as administrative or judicial, he extended some of the rules of natural justice into administrative decisions, holding that there is a "general duty of fairness" even in administrative decisions. In the result, the decision of the Board of Commissioners of Police was quashed and costs were awarded to Nicholson.

Aftermath

The content of the general "duty of fairness" was clarified by the Supreme Court of Canada in '' Baker v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration)'', where the Court set out a test for determining when certain procedural protections are required.

References

External links

* {{lexum-scc2, 1979, 1, 311 an
CanLII
Canadian administrative case law Supreme Court of Canada cases 1978 in Canadian case law Haldimand County Law enforcement in Canada

Background

Opinion of the Court

Aftermath

See also

References

External links