Using a recent trial and appeal in Canada as an example, this essay reviews our
conventional reticence to allowing judges to draw the attention of counsel to issues that
might influence the assessment of forensic science evidence in criminal proceedings. We
question the institutional commitment to judicial non-intervention and suggest that on many
occasions judicial passivity or quiescence (rather than impartiality) threatens the
fundamental goals of fairness and factual rectitude. The essay explores the scope and …