Give the court credit for
knowing a little law.
- The Honourable John I. Laskin,
“Forget the Windup and Make the Pitch: Some Suggestions for
Writing More Persuasive Factums”
After you have framed your issues, the next part of the factum
is your argument on each of those issue. Under the Rules
of Civil Procedure, a factum needs to contain “concise
argument with reference to the law and authorities relating to
[each] issue”.1
The law and authorities may include any applicable and relevant
constitutional provisions, legislation, and regulations, along with
court and administrative tribunal decisions.
There is a balance that must be struck when determining how
in-depth to go on particular legal issues. Appellate judges are, by
their very nature, generalists. The Court of Appeal for Ontario
typically hears more than 1,000 appeals each year in criminal,
civil, and family law.2 The Court must hear a
constitutional law case about the division of powers between
