How is the Rule of Civil Procedure applied when a judge orders a trial without a jury?

Ontario, Canada


The following excerpt is from Soldwisch v. Toronto Western Hospital et al., 1983 CanLII 1684 (ON SCDC):

It is perhaps useful to recall what some eminent judges have said about how the discretion is to be exercised. In Martin v. Deutch, supra, Robertson C.J.O. said at p. 691 O.R., p. 602 D.L.R.: Doubtless, the discretion is to be exercised juridically. The judge is not to dispense with a jury because he does not believe in juries. Neither is he to disregard substantial grounds for dispensing with a jury for no other reason than his high regard for the right of a litigant to have his case tried by a jury. The Rule plainly contemplates that it may be applied, and that a jury may be dispensed with, in an action of a class that is ordinarily tried with a jury, if there are special circumstances that make it appear that it will be in the interest of justice to try the case without a jury. Whether there are, in the particular case, special circumstances that warrant a judge in chambers directing a trial without a jury, is a matter upon which that judge must exercise his discretion.

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