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OTTAWA — Granting a Conservative motion to shut down the robocalls challenge based on an ancient legal doctrine would have a chilling effect on public-interest litigation, a lawyer for voters seeking to overturn election results argued on Tuesday morning.

“The tort has no place in public-interest litigation,” lawyer Peter Engelmann said during Federal Court hearings on Tuesday.

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Conservative lawyer Arthur Hamilton spent much of Monday, the first day of the week-long hearings, arguing that the judge should toss out the challenge based on the ancient and obscure legal principle of champerty and maintenance.

The Conservatives had submitted a 750-page affidavit laying out their case. In it, they argued that the Council of Canadians, which is funding the challenge, is the real applicant and that violates the common-law principle of champerty and maintenance.

Engelmann argued that the Conservative motion should be dismissed, since to prove champerty and maintenance lawyers must prove that the council is acting from improper motive and that it stands to gain from the outcome of the suit.