Max Bailey, was a resident of a Park Avenue apartment in Montreal. In February 1948, Bailey, a former Montreal City Councillor and a Communist himself, wanted to assign his apartment to John Switzman, a prominent Marxist who wanted to turn the apartment into a local Communist hub. Freda Elbling, the landlord, tried to prevent Switzman from taking the apartment for fear of having her building appropriated by the province under the Padlock Law. Failing that, she applied to the court to have the lease cancelled.
In his defence, Switzman challenged the Padlock Law as a violation of freedom of speech and as a law ultra vires the power of the provincial government. At trial and on appeal, the courts found in favour of Elbling.[5]
In an 8 to 1 decision, the Supreme Court found that the law was ultra vires and it was struck down.
^Forsey, Eugene A. (February 7, 2006). "Padlock Act". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved July 19, 2020.
^MacLennan, Christopher (2003). "The decade of human rights and the bill of rights movement". Toward the Charter: Canadians and the demand for a national bill of rights, 1929-1960. Montreal & Kingston: McGill–Queen's University Press. pp. 109–125. ISBN077352536X.
^Donnelly, M. S. (January 3, 1959). "Why pass a useless Bill of Rights?". Maclean's. Retrieved July 25, 2020. A majority of the judges based their decision on the fact that the Padlock Law represented provincial interference with exclusive federal power over criminal law, and not on the grounds of civil liberties.
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