What are the reasons for writing reasons for a judge's decision?

Ontario, Canada


The following excerpt is from R. v. Messina, 2005 ONCJ 560 (CanLII):

To these rationales I add that giving reasoned reasons is an important self-discipline for a judge. The well-known phrase "sometimes it just won't write" signals that occasionally a judge's instincts about a case do not stand up to reasoned analysis. The process of putting pen to paper - of articulating the "path" to one's conclusion - may disclose a flaw in one's reasoning. As L’Heureux-Dubé J. sensibly observed in Baker v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 1999 CanLII 699 (SCC), [1999] 2 S.C.R. 817 at para. 39: "The process of writing reasons for decision by itself may be a guarantee of a better decision."

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