L'application de la règle du functus officio

R. v. Conley, 1979 ALTASCAD 129 (CanLII)

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[14]                       As I conceive the usual application of the rule of functus officio in criminal proceedings, a judge becomes functus when he makes a final pronouncement following a hearing on the merits. He cannot make a fresh adjudication or otherwise interfere with that judgment after finality has been achieved. There must be finality and it is that quality which renders a judge functus officio. As stated by Fullerton, J.A. in Rex v. Cuhulereflex, (1923) 2 W.W.R. 336, 40 C.C.C. 180, (1923) 3 D.L.R. 465, at W.W.R. 342: "The conviction itself is effective from the moment it is pronounced …". That signals finality. The conviction in that case was quashed as several errors were committed by the convicting magistrate. Two of these errors, relevant to this issue, consisted, firstly, of making a new adjudication by altering the original conviction, and then of imposing a new sentence, when he was functus officio.