"The fifth edition had to be substantially revised to reflect the impact of recent Supreme Court of Canada bellweather decisions in Grant and the companion decisions in Harrison and Suberu. These decisions require a new approach to the meaning of detention for Charter purposes and to the remedy of exclusion of evidence under section 24(2) of the Charter. Much of the voluminous prior jurisprudence on section 24(2) over the past 27 years relating to the meaning and consequences of conscripting the accused in violation of the Charter is now of little moment. New clarifications and new questions are identified."--Pub. desc.

Derived from the renowned multi-volume International Encyclopaedia of Laws, this book provides a practical analysis of criminal law in Canada. An introduction presents the necessary background information about the framework and sources of the criminal justice system, and then proceeds to a detailed examination of the grounds for criminal liability, the justification of criminal offences, the defences that diminish or excuse criminal liability, the classification of criminal offences, and the sanctions system. Coverage of criminal procedure focuses on the organization of investigations, pre-trial proceedings, trial stage, and legal remedies. A final part describes the execution of sentences and orders, the prison system, and the extinction of custodial sanctions or sentences. Its succinct yet scholarly nature, as well as the practical quality of the information it provides, make this book a valuable resource for criminal lawyers, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and criminal court judges handling cases connected with Canada. Academics and researchers, as well as the various international organizations in the field, will welcome this very useful guide, and will appreciate its value in the study of comparative criminal law.

Constitutionalizing Criminal Law calls for an overhaul of the way the Supreme Court has developed the relationship between criminal and constitutional law. The court has relied heavily on its power to constitutionalize principles of “fundamental justice” under section 7 of the Charter. In so doing, it employs both principles of criminal law theory and instrumental rationality. The court less frequently invokes enumerated Charter rights when striking down criminal laws. This book persuasively argues that the court should abandon the use of instrumental rationality and constitutionalize principles of criminal law theory only when an unjust criminal law cannot be struck down using an enumerated right.