ABSTRACT
Civil jury practice in Canada needs to return to its roots: having lay members of the community adjudge conduct based on community standards, unfettered by the legal trappings of both unnecessarily complex legal doctrine and the perspectives of legally trained lawyers and judges. The right to a jury trial in a civil case seems to be a fundamental right in a fair and impartial justice system. Litigants who choose to have their case tried by a civil jury do so for a variety of strategic reasons which are important to them. The right to this choice should not be something that is cabined or removed. It is said to the point of triteness that this country has a problem with access to justice. Ensuring civil juries are in a position to deliver reliable justice with confidence when called upon is thus a fundamental piece of ensuring access to justice in civil cases. To do that, the civil justice system needs to pay greater attention to the content and operation of jury charges and jury questions in civil cases to avoid a jury returning an ‘inscrutable’ verdict that further erodes faith in the jury system.
Knutsen, Erik S, The Civil Jury in Canada: Evading the Inscrutable and Upholding Justice Through Community Standards (September 18, 2023) in Justice Darla A Wilson, Annual Review of Civil Litigation (2023) (Thomson Reuters, 2023), 159.
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