The Supreme Court of Canada released a decision today (R. v. Sullivan 2022 SCC 19) dealing with an important issue relating to the constitutionality of a provision of the Criminal Code relating to self-induced intoxication and the automatism defence. The R. v. Sullivan decision also provided some much more far-reaching directions regarding the precedential value of prior decisions of courts of coordinate jurisdiction (i.e., the same level of court). In particular, it directed that prior decisions must be followed other than in three very narrow situations: The rationale of an earlier decision has been undermined by subsequent appellate decisions; The ... [more] Full article