Introduction

• Author: Steve Coughlan
• Pages: 1-6

1

CHA PTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In this book, “crimi nal procedure” refers to the body of rules and prin-

ciples that govern the investigation, prosecution, and adjudication of

any offence enacted by Parliament for which an accused person would

have a crimin al record if found guilty by a court exerci sing jurisdiction

under the Criminal Code.1 In other words, crimin al procedure governs

the procedural aspects relating to indictable and summary conviction

offences enacted by Parliament pursua nt to its legislative authority in

matters of crimin al law.

This definition of the subject excludes many procedural aspects of

penal law. For example, it does not include law that is enacted for the

1 Unless other wise indicated, al l statutory references in t his book are to the

Criminal Code of Canad a, RSC 1985, c C-46 [Code]. All references to section s of

the Canadian Ch arter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constit ution Act, 1982,

being Schedule B to t he Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11 [Charter] will be pre-

ceded by “Charter.” See Criminal Records Act, RSC 1985, c C-47, s 3, which refers

to a conviction of an offenc e under an Act of Parliament or a regul ation made

under an Act of Parlia ment. The procedure prescribe d in the Code applies to

all indict able offences and all offences puni shable on summary convic tion that

have been enact ed by Parliament. Notwith standing the broad defi nition of this

book’s scope, the cr iminal jurisd iction of the Canadian mi litary is excluded

from considerat ion here, but it should be noted that this includ es a distinctive

body of procedura l and evidentiary law. Als o excluded from consideration is

crimin al procedure as it applies to young per sons under the Youth Criminal

Justice Act, SC 2 002, c 1. For discussion of the latter i ssue, see Nicholas Bala &

Sanjeev Anan d, Youth Criminal Justice Law, 3d ed (Toronto: Irwin L aw, 2012).