Wood v. M.N.R., 69 DTC 5073, [1969] S.C.R. 330, [1969] CTC 57 -- summary under Debt/ receivables

The taxpayer, a lawyer, who acquired approximately 1 1/2 mortgages per year at a discount out of his personal savings and who made the acquisitions only after he concluded they were safe investments, realized a $700 discount on the mortgage in question for $7,100 as an accretion to capital rather than in connection with an adventure in the nature of trade. (The Crown had abandoned its contention that the amounts were interest.) Abbott J noted (in addition to the infrequency of the transactions) that income from stocks and bonds "was a relatively modest part of [the taxpayer's] gross income," his "purchases were not speculative and...made after he had inspected each property and reached a decision that each mortgage was a safe investment," and that "this pattern of appellant's activities was consistent with the making of personal investments out of his savings and not with the carrying on of a business" (pp. 5074-5).