Preface

• Author: Kent Roach
• Profession: Faculty of Law and Centre of Criminology University of Toronto
• Pages: 19-20

Preface

to the Third Edition

This book is designed to provide a concise and current discussion of

the basic principles of Canadian criminal law. To this end, the heart of

this book examines the principles of the general part of the criminal

law: the elements of offences and the relevant defences. It follows the

traditional conceptualization of the general part, but it examines unful-

filled crimes and participation in crimes earlier than other works

because of their great practical importance and their effective expan-

sion of the prohibited act. Regulatory offences and corporate criminal

liability are examined together because of their functional and contex-

tual similarities. Provocation is examined with self-defence, necessity,

and duress because of the common use of the modified objective stan-

dard. An overview is provided to introduce readers to the basic concep-

tual structure of the criminal law.

A few chapters attempt to place the general principles of the crim-

inal law in the context of the entire criminal process by examining the

constitutional principles that affect the investigation of crime, the

criminal trial process, and the substantive criminal law (chapter 1); by

examining the principles of sentencing (chapter 9); and by examining

models of the criminal process, trends in the criminal law, and perspec-

tives that can be brought to the study of the law (chapter 10). These

chapters are not intended to be comprehensive, and each deserves a

book in its own right, but it is hoped they will provide readers with a

fuller sense of the criminal law than would be provided if the book

were restricted to the general part of the criminal law.

I have avoided the temptation to engage in extended criticisms of

decided cases in order to focus on how each case fits into the overall

structure of the criminal law. Unfortunately, the fit is not always natu-

ral and my impression after fifteen years of teaching is that Canadian

xix