The leading authority governing the exercise of a discretion to hear a moot appeal is Borowski v. Canada (Attorney General), 1989 CanLII 123 (SCC), [1989] 1 S.C.R. 342, 57 D.L.R. (4th) 231. In that case, Sopinka J. held at 353 (S.C.R.) that as an aspect of a general policy or practice, a court may decline to decide a case which raises merely a hypothetical or abstract question. A court will apply the doctrine when the decision of the court will have no practical effect of resolving some controversy affecting the rights of parties.
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