What is the test for admitting evidence of bad character?
Manitoba, Canada
The following excerpt is from R. v. Guimond, 1999 CanLII 14120 (MB QB):
Makin v. Attorney-General for New South Wales, [1894] A.C. 57, is authority for the general proposition that evidence tending to show the accused was a person of bad character cannot be admitted for the purpose of leading to the conclusion that he or she is likely, by virtue of his or her character, to have committed the offence for which he or she is being tried. However, as the Lord Chancellor pointed out, at p. 65: … On the other hand, the mere fact that the evidence adduced tends to shew the commission of other crimes does not render it inadmissible if it be relevant to an issue before the jury….
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