R v Marshall, 2003 NSCA 105

This appeal was heard in the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, and it followed the decisions in R v Marshall, 2001 NSPC 2, R v Marshall, 2001 CanLII 4996 (NS SC), R v Marshall, 2001 NSSC 157, R v Marshall (SF), 2002 NSSC 57, and R v Marshall, 2002 NSSC 233.

This appeal followed an unsuccessful appeal in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court after the appellants were convicted at trial for cutting and removing timber from Crown lands.

All of the applicants were Mi'kmaq, and at trial they had asserted Aboriginal and treaty rights, including Aboriginal title, that gave them the right to do what they had done. Those arguments were rejected by the Provincial Court of Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

In this decision, the Court of Appeal held that the lower courts had erred in making the decisions they did. The Court held that the lower courts had misapplied the legal test for treaty rights and had also made mistakes when assessing the accuseds' Aboriginal rights claims. 

Because it held that the lower courts had made errors of law, the Court of Appeal set aside the convictions and ordered a new trial.

The issues raised in this decision came before the courts again in R v Marshall; R v Bernard, [2005] 2 SCR 220, 2005 SCC 43.

View the Decision on CanLII: https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nsca/doc/2003/2003nsca105/2003nsca105.html

Disclaimer:
Case briefs in our Resource Library are drafted by law students who work or volunteer with East Coast Environmental Law, and East Coast Environmental Law does not guarantee their fullness or accuracy. Library users should not rely on case briefs as comprehensive accounts of the issues, facts, reasoning, or outcomes at stake in any given case. 

If you require more detailed information about a court decision or legal issue, please consider using our Environmental Law Inquiry Service to request information from our staff.