What is the test for establishing reasonable and probable cause in a sexual assault case?

Nova Scotia, Canada


The following excerpt is from Wilson Fuel Co. Limited v. Canada (Attorney General), 2009 NSSC 215 (CanLII):

With respect to the “absence of reasonable and probable cause,” Lamer J. said in Nelles at paras. 43-44: ... Reasonable and probable cause has been defined as "an honest belief in the guilt of the accused based upon a full conviction, founded on reasonable grounds, of the existence of a state of circumstances, which, assuming them to be true, would reasonably lead any ordinarily prudent and cautious man, placed in the position of the accuser, to the conclusion that the person charged was probably guilty of the crime imputed" (Hicks v. Faulkner (1878), 8 Q.B.D. 167, at p. 171, Hawkins J.) This test contains both a subjective and objective element. There must be both actual belief on the part of the prosecutor and that belief must be reasonable in the circumstances. The existence of reasonable and probable cause is a matter for the judge to decide as opposed to the jury.

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