Proprietary Articles Trade Association v. Attorney General of Canada

Proprietary Articles Trade Association v. Attorney General of Canada, [1931] A.C. 310 is a famous Canadian constitutional decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on the Constitution's criminal law power under section 91(27).

Lord Atkin, writing for the Council, rejected the previous interpretation of criminal law in Canada by Lord Haldane in the Board of Commerce case as it froze the scope of criminal law to what was considered criminal at the time of confederation in 1867. Instead, Atkin offered a new definition:

The criminal quality of an act cannot be discerned by intuition; nor can it be discovered by reference to any standard but one: Is the act prohibited with penal consequences?

This statement suggested two requirements for criminal law. It must consist of a prohibition and must impose a prison sentence.

While not having to decide on the applicability of the trade and commerce power in this, the Board expressed a desire to clarify an aspect of their previous ruling in Board of Commerce. In the current case, it had been argued that Board of Commerce held that the trade and commerce power could be used only in furtherance of a general power that the Parliament of Canada had independently of it. It was emphasized that that was not the correct interpretation, and that the power existed as a separate grant of authority.

Aftermath

Atkin's definition only lasted until 1949 when it was once again redefined much more narrowly in the Margarine Reference case.

See also

• List of Judicial Committee of the Privy Council cases