Jurisdiction to appeal after death of Appellant

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The jurisdiction to continue an appeal in a criminal matter, after the death of the appellant, should be exercised sparingly and only where it is in the interests of justice do so. That observation has even greater force in a prosecution under the Provincial Offences Act: R v Hicks, 2016 ONCA 291 at para 2

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Precedential Value of an Endorsement

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Reasons given by way of endorsement are mainly directed at giving the immediate parties an understanding of why the court disposed of the appeal as it did. Jurisprudential principles intended to be articulated for the first time take the form of written judgments. Care must be taken not to construe an endorsement as supporting broad principles that were not specifically addressed: R v Martin, 2016 ONCA 840 at para 18

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That said, the weight to be given to an endorsement will vary widely. Sometimes the general principles of law have already been established by full written reasons in prior cases and it is only necessary for the Court to apply those principles to the case before it. Sometimes the jurisprudential heavy lifting in the particular case has been done by the court at first instance and there is little, if anything, for the appellate court to add apart from its agreement with that reasoning: Martin at para 19 

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