Welcome to Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t! This week, lawyer Kyla Lee discusses the colour of right defence.
Acumen Law Corporation lawyer Kyla Lee gives her take on a made-in-Canada court case each week and discusses why these cases should have been heard by Canada’s highest court: the Supreme Court of Canada.
Colour of right is a legal defence that applies in circumstances where a person is accused of having stolen an item but claims they had a legitimate basis to believe they had the right to possess that item.
Sean Horse was charged with theft involving a cellphone. Mr.Horse had borrowed a woman’s cellphone to try to get help searching for his lost dog and then took off running with the phone. Mr.Horse was later arrested by police and charged with theft.
At trial, Mr.Horse argued that he had the colour of right to possess the phone and to take off running with it because the woman had loaned him the phone. The trial judge accepted that he did have the colour of right as a defence to the initial possession of the cellphone, but once he took off running, the defence no longer applied.
This case raises the important issue of when the colour of right specifically defence ends and when a person is then guilty of theft.
Watch the video for more.