At What Point is a Court’s Authority Spent?--The Doctrine of Functus Officio
Functus officio is a Latin phrase which means “having performed his or her office.” A court that is functus officio therefore has no further authority as its duties have been accomplished. It is clear that the principle of functus officio exists to allow finality of judgments from courts which are subject to appeal. This makes sense: if the court could continually hear applications to vary its decisions, it would assume the function of an appellate court and deny litigants a stable base from which to launch an appeal. R. v. Malicia , 2006 CanLII 31804 (ON CA). Jury Trials The power or duty of the trial judge to intervene when a jury verdict is returned and to make inquiries relating to the true nature of the verdict is one to be exercised prior to the discharge of the jury and "before it is too late". It will be too late when the jury is discharged and the court created for the trial of the accused has been dissolved. Head v. The Queen , [1986] 2 SCR 684, 198...