Patterns in the Jordan Case Law One Year After Cody

With R. v. Jordan , the Supreme Court of Canada radically altered the approach to the section 11(b) right to trial within a reasonable time. Six months later in R. v. Cody , the Court stuck to its guns, but elaborated on the ways in which all parties, including the defence, had an obligation to shift the "culture of complacency" which had arsed around delay in the criminal justice system. Jordan and Cody were both, of necessity, written with broad brush strokes in some parts, and so it has been necessary for lower courts to fill in come of the details. This article will pursue some of the issues which have arisen in that regard.