''Solosky v R'' (1979),
980
Year 980 ( CMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place Europe
* Peace is concluded between Emperor Otto II (the Red) and King Lothair III (or Lothair IV) a ...
1 S.C.R. 821 is a leading
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
decision on
solicitor-client privilege
In common law jurisdictions, legal professional privilege protects all communications between a professional legal adviser (a solicitor, barrister or attorney) and his or her clients from being disclosed without the permission of the client. ...
. The court identified solicitor-client privilege as more than just a rule of evidence but as a fundamental right to all individuals.
Background
Billy Solosky was an inmate at the
Millhaven corrections institute. All mail was subject to screening by officers of the prison under the ''Penitentiary Act''. Solosky sought an application to prevent the screening of correspondence with his lawyer under solicitor-client privilege.
Reasons of the court
Justice Dickson, writing for the majority, held that Solosky had a right to privilege in all of his correspondence between him and his lawyer. Though privilege has its origins as an evidentiary rule to protect parties in a litigation, it has become available to all clients seeking
legal advice.
The criteria to gain the protection of solicitor-client privilege requires "(i) a communication between solicitor and client; (ii) which entails the seeking or giving of legal advice; and (iii) which is intended to be confidential by the parties" (p. 834)
Dickson, however, stated that privilege did not apply where legal advice is not sought or offered, where it is not intended to be confidential, and where its purpose is to further unlawful conduct. (p. 835)
See also
*
List of Supreme Court of Canada cases (Laskin Court)
This is a chronological list of notable cases decided by the Supreme Court of Canada from the appointment of Bora Laskin in 1973 as Chief Justice to his death in office in 1984. Laskin was the first Chief Justice to hear cases under the Charter ...
External links
full text from CanLII.org
Canadian evidence case law
Supreme Court of Canada cases
1979 in Canadian case law
Legal professional privilege
Evidentiary privilege case law
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