Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Responsibility of Intoxicated Offenders

  • Published:
The Journal of Value Inquiry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. Duncan J. in R. v. Cedeno [2005] O.J. No. 1174 Ontario Court of Justice, para. 26.

  2. Lord Kenyon in Fowler v. Padget (1798), 101 E.R. 1103, cited in Tim Quigley, “A Shorn Beard,” 10 Dalhousie Law Journal (1987), p. 176.

  3. See Roger A. Shiner, “Intoxication and Responsibility” 13 International Journal of Law and Psychiatry (1990), p. 11.

  4. Dickson J. in R. v. Perka [1984], 93 C.C.C. (3d) 385, 2 S.C.R. 232, p. 249; see also George P. Fletcher, Rethinking Criminal Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978), and H.L.A. Hart, Punishment and Responsibility (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968).

  5. See R. v. Parks [1992] 2 S.C.R. 871; R. v. Luedecke (2008) Ontario Court of Appeal 93 O.R. (3d) 89.

  6. See Michael Moore, “Choice, Character, and Excuse” in E.F. Paul, F.D. Miller and J. Paul, eds., Crime, Culpability and Remedy (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990) and Placing Blame (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997); see also Michael Bayles, “Character, Purpose and Criminal Responsibility,” 1 Law and Philosophy (1982); Nicola Lacey, State Punishment: Political Principles and Community Values (London: Routledge, 1988); G.R. Sullivan, “Making Excuses” in A.P. Simester and A.T.H. Smith eds., Harm and Culpaability (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996); Victor Tadros, Criminal Responsibility (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005); Jeremy Horder, Excusing Crime (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004); Brenda Baker, “Theorizing About Responsibility and Criminal Liability” 11 Law and Philosophy (1992); Jean Hampton, “Mens Rea” in E.F. Paul, F.D. Miller and J. Paul, eds., op. cit.; and Peter Weston, “An Attitudinal Theory of Excuse” 25 Law and Philosophy (2006).

  7. See Fletcher, op. cit., and Fletcher, “The Right and the Reasonable,” Harvard Law Review 98 (1985).

  8. See Miriam Gur-Arye, “Should a Criminal Code Distinguish Justification and Excuse?” 5 Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence (1992), p. 215.

  9. See Perka op. cit.; Kent Roach, Criminal Law 3rd ed. (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2004), pp. 280–281. Cf. A.P. Simester and G.R. Sullivan, Criminal Law Theory and Doctrine (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2000), pp. 533–543; Tadros, op. cit.; and John Gardner, Offences and Defenses (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).

  10. Dickson J. in Perka, p. 248.

  11. Ibid., p. 249.

  12. Ibid.; see also Fletcher Rethinking Criminal Law, pp. 804–805.

  13. Dickson J. in Perka, p. 250.

  14. Ibid.

  15. Ibid.

  16. See Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. W.D. Ross, rev. J.L. Ackrill and J.O. Urmson (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1980), bk. III, s. 1, 1013b21–1114a8.

  17. M. Hale, Pleas of the Crown, I, 42, and in Horder, op. cit., pp. 31–32, n. 82.

  18. See Wollmington v. D.P.P. [1935] All Er 1 (4.6).

  19. See Horder, op. cit., pp. 10–11.

  20. See R. v. King [1962] 133 C.C.C. 1 at 19 (S.C.C.); R. v. Tramble [1983] 33 C.R. (3d) 264 (Ont. Co. Ct.); R. v. Vickberg [1998] 16 C.R. (5th) 164 at 184 (B.S.S.C.).

  21. See R. v. Brenton [1999] 28 C.R. (5th) 308 at 320 (N.W.T.S.C.).

  22. R. v. Kamipeli [1975] 2 N.Z.L.R. 610 at 616 (C.A.); and R. v. Bernard, [1988] 2 S.C.R. 833 at para. 17.

  23. See David McCord, “The English and American History of Voluntary Intoxication to Negate Mens Rea,” The Journal of Legal History 11 (1990), p. 371.

  24. D.P.P. v. Beard [1920] A.C. 479; S.H. Berner, “The Defense of Drunkenness—A Reconsideration,” University of British Columbia Law Review 6 (1971), p. 309.

  25. Ibid., pp. 501–502.

  26. See R. v. Robinson [1996] 1 S.C.R. 683, para. 11, 12–15; see also R. v. McMaster [1996] 1 S.C.R. 740 and R. v. Lemky [1996] 1 S.C.R. 757.

  27. See D.P.P. v. Majewski [1976] 2 All E.R. 142 (HL).

  28. See Tim Quigley, “Specific Nonsense?” 11 Dalhousie Law Journal (1987), pp. 77–78, ns 6 & 7; see also R. v. Bernard op. cit.; R. v. Quin [1988] 2 S.C.R. 825, and R. v. Penno [1990] 2 S.C.R. 865.

  29. See Tim Quigley, “A Shorn Beard,” 10 Dalhousie Law Journal (1987); see also Quigley, “Reform of the Intoxication Defense” 33 McGill Law Journal (1987); Quigley, “Specific Nonsense?”; Patrick Healy, “Intoxication in the Codification of Canadian Criminal Law” 73 Canadian Bar Review (1994); Eric Colvin, “A Theory of the Intoxication Defense” 59 Canadian Bar Review (1981); and Simester and Sullivan, op. cit., pp. 556–557.

  30. See Leary v. R. (1977), [1978] 1 S.C.R. 29, 74 D.L.R. (3d) 103.

  31. See D.P.P. v. Majewski op. cit.

  32. See Leary v. The Queen [1978] 1 S.C.R. 29.

  33. McIntyre J. in Bernard, op. cit., paras. 75–76.

  34. See Tim Quigley, “Specific Nonsense?” pp. 112–113.

  35. McIntyre J. in Bernard, para. 71.

  36. McIntyre J., quoting Ritchie J. in R. v. George [1960] S.C.R. 871, in Bernard, para. 72; see also R.D. Mackay, “The Taint of Intoxication,” International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 13 (1990), pp. 38–39; Paul H. Robinson, “Causing the Conditions of One’s Own Defense,” Virginia Law Review 71 (1985); and R. v. Lemky [1996] 1 S.C.R. 757; cf. Horder, op. cit., pp. 25–29.

  37. Lamar C.J. in R. v. Penno [1990] 2 SCR 865.

  38. Ibid.

  39. Criminal Code of Canada, s. 33.1 (2).

  40. See Wilson J. in Bernard at p. 887.

  41. See Cory J. in R. v. Daviault [1994] 3 S.C.R. 63.

  42. See R. v. Swain, [1991] 1 S.C.R. 933, p. 978, and Daviault, p. 100; see also Mark Carter, “Non-Statutory Criminal Law and the Charter: The Application of the Swain Approach in R. v. Daviault,” Saskatchewan Law Review 59 (1995).

  43. Cory J. in Daviault, p. 89.

  44. Ibid., p. 112.

  45. Ibid., p. 113.

  46. See Martha Shaffer, “R. v. Daviault: A Principled Approach to Drunkenness or a Lapse of Common Sense?” Review of Constitutional Studies III (1996).

  47. See Bill C-72 An Act to amend the Criminal Code (Self-Induced Intoxication), 1st Session, 34th Parl. 1995; proclaimed 15 September 1995 S.C. 1995, c. 32.

  48. Criminal Code of Canada, s. 33.1(1)–(3).

  49. R. v. Quin [1988] 2 S.C.R. 825, s 306(1)(a &b).

  50. Dickson C.J. in R. v. Bernard [1988] 2 S.C.R. 833, para. 53.

  51. R. v. S.J.B. [2000] A.J. No. 726 Alberta Court of Appeal Judgment, para. 24.

  52. See Quigley, op. cit.; Dickson C.J. in Bernard, para. 18; see also Heather MacMillan-Brown, “No Longer ‘Leary’ About Intoxication: In the Aftermath of R. v. Daviault,” 59 Saskatchewan Law Review (1995); cf. Review of the Commonwealth Criminal Law, Interim Report: Principles of Criminal Responsibility and Other Matters (1990) paras. 10.17 & 10.24; see also Ian Leader-Elliot, “Voluntariness, Intoxication and Fault” 15 Criminal Law Journal (1991), and Majewski, 484A.

  53. See McIntyre J. in Bernard, para. 64.

  54. Ibid., para. 65.

  55. C.f. R.v. Mavin, [1997], 119 C.C.C. (3d) 38 (Nfld C.A.).

  56. Lamer J. in R. v. Vaillancourt [1987] 2 S.C.R. 636; see also R. v. Whyte [1988] 2 S.C.R. 3.

  57. See Chester N. Mitchell, “The Intoxicated Offender-Refuting the Legal and Medical Myths, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 11 (1988).

  58. Ibid., p. 78.

  59. Ibid., pp. 88–89.

  60. See Stephen Gough, “Intoxication and Criminal Liability: The Law Commission’s Proposed Reforms,” 112 Law Quarterly Review (1996).

  61. Andrew Ashworth, “Reason, Logic and Criminal Liability,” Law Quarterly Review 91 (1975), p. 103.

  62. See J. Gardner., op. cit.

  63. See G. Williams, Criminal Law: The General Part, 2nd ed. (London: Stevens, 1961); see also A.J. Ashworth, “Reason, Logic” op. cit. and “Intoxication and General Defenses,” Criminal Law Review 556 (1980); A. St. Q. Skeen, “Intoxication is No Longer a Complete Defense in Bophuthatswana: Will South Africa Follow Suit” 101 South Africa Law Journal (1984); A. Paizes, “Intoxication Through the Looking-Glass,” 105 South Africa Law Journal (1988); Schabas, op. cit.; Quigley, “Reform of the Intoxication Defense” 33 McGill Law Journal (1987); and Colvin, op. cit.

  64. See R. v. Kamipeli [1975] 2 N.Z.L.R. 610, p. 616 (C.A.).

  65. Criminal Code of Canada, s. 33.1, Preamble.

  66. See also Vertes J. in R. v. Brenton [1999] N.W.T.J. No. 113 NWT Supreme Court, para. 97.

  67. See R. v. Daley [2007].

  68. Festeryga J. in R. v. Decaire [1998] O.J. No. 6339 Ontario Court of Justice at 2–3.

  69. Ibid.

  70. Ibid., para. 11

  71. Vertes J. in Brenton op. cit., para. 93.

  72. See Mitchell, op. cit.

  73. Kelly Smith, “Section 33.1: Denial of the Daviault Defense Should Be Held Constitutional,” 28 Criminal Reports (5th) (2005), pp. 362–363.

  74. Criminal Code of Canada, s. 33.1, Preamble.

  75. See Isabel Grant, “Second Chances: Bill C-72 and the Charter,” 33 Osgoode Hall Law Journal (1995).

  76. Criminal Code of Canada, s. 33.1 (2).

  77. See Dickson C.J. in Bernard op. cit., para. 16.

  78. Dickson in Leary, p. 34.

  79. See R. v. Sault Ste. Marie (City) [1978] 2 S.C.R. 1299.

  80. R. v. Creighton [1993] 3 S.C.R., p. 54.

  81. See Sopinka J. in R. v. Daviault [1994] 3 S.C.R. 63 at 115.

  82. Tim Quigley, “Shorn Beard” op. cit., p. 172.

  83. Ibid.

  84. Ibid.; see also Nicola Lacey, “In Search of the Responsible Subject: History, Philosophy and Social Sciences in Criminal Law Theory,” Modern Law Rev. 64 (2001).

  85. See Brenda Baker, “Mens Rea, Negligence and Criminal Law Reform,” 6 Law and Philosophy (1987), pp. 64–65.

  86. David M. Paciocco, “Subjective and Objective Standards of Fault for Offences and Defenses,” 59 Saskatchewan Law Review (1995), p. 291; see also Paul B. Schabas, “Intoxication and Culpability: Towards an Offence of Criminal Intoxication,” 42 University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review (1984), p. 157; Fletcher Rethinking Criminal Law, p. 367 and Fletcher, “Two Kinds of Legal Rules: A Comparative Study of Burden-of-Persuasion Practices in Criminal Cases,” 72 Yale Law Journal (1967–8), p. 889.

  87. See Baker, op. cit., p. 69.

  88. Ibid., pp. 74–55; cf. H.L.A. Hart, “Negligence, Mens Rea, and Criminal Responsibility” in Punishment and Responsibility.

  89. See R.A. Duff, “Choice, Character, and Criminal Liability” 12 Law and Philosophy (1993), p. 346, and Duff, Intention, Agency and Criminal Liability (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990).

  90. Duff, “Choice, Character,” p. 361.

  91. See Simon Gardner, “The Importance of Majewski,” Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 14 (1994).

  92. Ibid., p. 279.

  93. Ibid., pp. 282–283; see also Mark T. Thornton, “Making Sense of Majewski,” Criminal Law Quarterly 16 (1980).

  94. See Lamar C.J. in R. v. Penno [1990] 2 SCR 865.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M3J1P3, Canada

    Susan Dimock

Authors
  1. Susan Dimock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan Dimock.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Dimock, S. The Responsibility of Intoxicated Offenders. J Value Inquiry 43, 339–368 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10790-009-9182-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10790-009-9182-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation