List of Supreme Court of Canada cases (Laskin Court)

This is a chronological list of notable cases decided by the Supreme Court of Canada from the appointment of Bora Laskin in 1973 as Chief Justice to his death in office in 1984.

1973 – 1974

Case name	Citation	Date	Subject
December 27, 1973 – Bora Laskin is appointed as Chief Justice of Canada
Calder v. British Columbia (Attorney General)	[1973] S.C.R. 313	January 31, 1973	Aboriginal rights
Jordan House Ltd. v. Menow	[1974] S.C.R. 239		commercial host liability
Canadian Aero Service Ltd. v. O'Malley	[1974] S.C.R. 592	June 29, 1973	corporate director's feduciary duties
Attorney General of Canada v. Lavell	[1974] S.C.R. 1349	August 27, 1973	equality, Bill of Rights
Moran v. Pyle National (Canada) Ltd.	[1975] 1 S.C.R. 393		Conflict of laws
Murdoch v. Murdoch	[1975] 1 S.C.R. 423		Division of matrimonial property

1975 – 1979

Case name	Citation	Date	Subject
Kienapple v. The Queen	[1975] 1 S.C.R. 729		the "kienapple" principle of multiple criminal charges
Jones v. Attorney General of New Brunswick	[1975] 2 S.C.R. 182		validity of Official Languages Act
Interprovincial Cooperatives v. The Queen	(1975), [1976] 1 S.C.R. 477		constitutional extraterritoriality
Morgentaler v. The Queen	[1976] 1 S.C.R. 616	March 26, 1975	abortion
Harrison v. Carswell	[1976] 2 S.C.R. 200		pre-Charter right to protest
Morgan v. Prince Edward Island (Attorney General)	[1976] 2 S.C.R. 349		limiting right to own land
Reference re Anti-Inflation Act	[1976] 2 S.C.R. 373	July 12, 1976	peace, order and good government power
MacDonald v. Vapor Canada Ltd.	[1977] 2 S.C.R. 134		constitutionality of the Trade-marks Act
Amax Potash Ltd. v. Government of Saskatchewan	[1977] 2 S.C.R. 576	October 5, 1976	Ability of government to protect itself from unfavourable findings on federalism issues.
Miller and Cockriell v. The Queen	[1977] 2 S.C.R. 680		Bill of Rights; Cruel and unusual punishment
Leary v. The Queen	[1978] 1 S.C.R. 29	March 8, 1977	intoxication defence
Kruger and al. v. The Queen	[1978] 1 S.C.R. 104	May 31, 1977	Indian Act and provincial gaming laws
Smithers v. The Queen	[1978] 1 S.C.R. 506	May 17, 1977	criminal causation test
Capital Cities Communications Inc. v. CRTC	[1978] 2 S.C.R. 141	November 30, 1977	federal works and undertakings
Attorney General of Quebec v. Kellogg's Co. of Canada	[1978] 2 S.C.R. 211		freedom of expression
Nova Scotia Board of Censors v. McNeil	[1978] 2 S.C.R. 662	January 19, 1978	federalism; provincial power to censor
Canada (Attorney General) v. City of Montreal	[1978] 2 S.C.R. 770
Reference Re Agricultural Products Marketing Act	[1978] 2 S.C.R. 1198
R. v. City of Sault Ste. Marie	[1978] 2 S.C.R. 1299	May 1, 1978	strict liability offences
Arnold v. Teno	[1978] 2 S.C.R. 287	January 19, 1978	duty of care; unforeseeable plaintiff
Bliss v. Canada (Attorney General)	[1979] 1 S.C.R. 183	October 31, 1978	Canadian Bill of Rights
R. v. Hauser	[1979] 1 S.C.R. 984	May 1, 1979	federalism; peace, order and good government
Cherneskey v. Armadale Publishers	[1979] 1 S.C.R. 1067	November 21, 1978	defamation
Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 963 v. New Brunswick Liquor Corp.	[1979] 2 S.C.R. 227		judicial review
Dunlop and Sylvester v. The Queen	[1979] 2 S.C.R. 881	May 31, 1979	aiding and abetting
Lewis v. The Queen	[1979] 2 S.C.R. 821	June 14, 1979	Murder; motive
Quebec (Attorney General) v. Blaikie (No.1)	[1979] 2 S.C.R. 1016		language rights

1980 – 1984

Case name	Citation	Date	Subject
Solosky v. The Queen	[1980] 1 S.C.R. 821	December 21, 1979	solicitor-client privilege
Labatt Brewing Co. v. Canada	[1980] 1 S.C.R. 914		federal legislative power
Pappajohn v. The Queen	[1980] 2 S.C.R. 120	May 20, 1980	rape defence
Pettkus v. Becker	[1980] 2 S.C.R. 834	December 18, 1980	unjust enrichment
Reibl v. Hughes	[1980] 2 S.C.R. 880	October 7, 1980	duty to disclose
R. v. Ron Engineering and Construction (Eastern) Ltd.	[1981] 1 S.C.R. 111	January 27, 1981	offer and acceptance
Re Residential Tenancies Act, 1979	[1981] 1 S.C.R. 714	May 28, 1981	jurisdiction of courts
Seneca College v. Bhadauria	[1981] 2 S.C.R. 181	June 22, 1981	Human rights, tort, discrimination
Patriation Reference	[1981] 1 S.C.R. 753	September 28, 1981	patriation of the Constitution of Canada
Minister of Justice v. Borowski	[1981] 2 S.C.R. 575	December 1, 1981	public interest standing
Ontario Human Rights Commission v. Etobicoke	[1982] 1 S.C.R. 202	February 9, 1982	age discrimination
April 17, 1982 - The Constitution Act, 1982, which includes the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, enters into effect
Vetrovec v. The Queen	[1982] 1 S.C.R. 811	May 31, 1982	evidence
Descôteaux v. Mierzwinski	[1982] 1 S.C.R. 860	June 23, 1982	privilege
Multiple Access Ltd. v. McCutcheon	[1982] 2 S.C.R. 161	August 9, 1982	overlapping federal and provincial laws
Shell Oil Co. v. Commissioner of Patents	[1982] 2 S.C.R. 536	November 2, 1982	patents
Reference re Amendment to the Canadian Constitution	[1982] 2 S.C.R. 793	December 6, 1982	Quebec veto
Graat v. The Queen	[1982] 2 S.C.R. 819	December 21, 1982	opinion evidence
Canada Labour Relations Board v. Paul L'Anglais Inc.	[1983] 1 S.C.R. 147		jurisdiction of courts
The Queen v. Saskatchewan Wheat Pool	[1983] 1 S.C.R. 205	February 8, 1983	tort of breach of statutory duty
Westendorp v. The Queen	[1983] 1 S.C.R. 43	January 25, 1983	division of powers
Perka v. R.	[1984] 2 S.C.R. 232	October 11, 1984	defence of necessity
Re Upper Churchill Water Rights Reversion Act	[1984] 1 S.C.R. 297	May 3, 1984	provincial legislative power
March 26, 1984 – death of Chief Justice Bora Laskin

See also

• List of Judicial Committee of the Privy Council cases
• List of notable Canadian Courts of Appeals cases