Reasons of The Court
The majority was written by Cory J., with L'Heureux-Dubé, McLachlin, and Iacobucci JJ. concurring. Lamer and La Forest JJ. each concurred separately with Cory's results.
Cory considered the basis of the Court of Appeal's ruling. The lower court had applied the "Leary rule" from Leary v. The Queen which held that intoxication akin to insanity could not negate mens rea for "general intent" crimes such as sexual assault. The rationale was based on the legal presumption that "a person intends the natural consequences of his or her act." For fear of having intoxication become an escape route for any general intent crime, the Leary rule addressed this by requiring the Crown to only prove that the accused intended to become intoxicated in substitute for establishing mens rea.
Read more about this topic: R. V. Daviault
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