User:Mr Serjeant Buzfuz/R v Riel
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Riel v The Queen is a court decision dealing with Canadian constitutional law and criminal law. The case concerned the validity of the trial of Louis Riel by a stipendiary magistrate, sitting with a jury of six, for the capital offence of high treason in the North-West Territories of Canada. One of the main issues was whether the federal Parliament had jurisdiction to vary the standard rules of criminal procedure as part of its jurisdiction to legislate for the Territories under the British North America Act, 1871 (now the Constitution Act, 1871). Another issue concerned the application of the M'Naghten rules and whether Riel should have been found not guilty by reason of insanity.
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Riel v The Queen | |
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Court | Judicial Committee of the Privy Council |
Full case name | Louis Riel v The Queen |
Decided | October 22, 1885 |
Citation(s) | [1885] UKPC 37, 10 App. Cas. 657. |
Case history | |
Prior action(s) | Trial of Louis Riel, Regina, North-West Territories; appeal to the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench in banc |
Appealed from | The Queen v Riel (No. 2) (1885), 1 Terr LR 23, 2 Man R 321 |
Subsequent action(s) | Execution of Louis Riel, November 16, 1885, Regina, North-West Territories |
Court membership | |
Judges sitting | Lord Halsbury, Lord Chancellor Lord Fitzgerald Lord Monkswell Lord Hobhouse Lord Esher Sir Barnes Peacock |
Case opinions | |
Leave to appeal denied. | |
Decision by | Lord Halsbury |
Keywords | |
Constitutional law; federal jurisdiction over the North-West Territories; Peace, order and good government; jury trials |
The jury convicted Riel on August 1, 1885 and the judge imposed the mandatory death sentence. Riel appealed his conviction to the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench in banc, which dismissed the appeal and upheld the conviction. Riel then applied for leave to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, at that time the court of last resort for Canada within the British Empire. The Judicial Committee denied leave, effectively upholding the decision of the Manitoba Queen's Bench. The Judicial Committee decision was one of the earliest cases interpreting the scope of the federal power over the Territories under the British North America Act, 1871.
Riel was hanged in Regina, North-West Territories, on November 16, 1885.