Excessive bail amounting to committal an error

Although an older case, recent trends towards increasing bail amounts make R. v. Cichanski  (1976), 25 C.C.C. (2d) 84 worth remembering.  It is an error for bail to be set so high as to amount to committal. Similarly, Brooke, J.A., in R. v. Brown (1974), 21 C.C.C. (2d) 575 at p. 576, considered the question of bail to be given by an impecunious widow on behalf of her son:

I do not think the interests of society make it necessary that he be kept in custody provided proper terms are imposed and are abided by.

He then fixed bail in the sum of $2,000 with one surety and a cash deposit of $500 and said:

In fixing this sum I note that this woman's savings exceed this amount by only a small sum but in imposing a deposit it is my intention to bring home to the applicant and his mother the nature of their obligation that they are undertaking at this time. It is a modest amount but her resources are modest.

Of course, today the right to reasonable bail is enshrined in the Charter (and see R. v. Morales, [1992] 3 S.C.R. 71):