Preface

• Author: Kent Roach
• Pages: 23-25

xxiii

PR EFACE

TO THE SEVENTH EDITION

This book is designed to provide a concise a nd current discussion of the

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

book examines t he principles of the general part of the cr iminal law:

the elements of offences and the relevant defences. It follows the trad-

itional conceptualization of the general part, but it examines unfulf‌illed

crimes and par ticipation in crimes e arlier than other works because of

their great practical importance and their effective expansion of the pro-

hibited act. Regulatory offences and cor porate criminal liability are e xam-

ined together because of their funct ional and contextual simi larities.

A few chapters attempt to place the general principles of the cri minal

law in context. Chapter 1 provides an over view of all the topics exam-

ined in the book and some basic and cur rent crimina l justice statistics.

Chapter 2 examines the constitutional principles that affect the investi-

gation of crime, the crimi nal tria l process, and the substantive criminal

law as they relate to fault requirement s and defences. This chapter in-

cludes new developments in the interpretation of the legal right s in the

Charter with t he reasonable limits prov ision in section 1 of the Charter

in R v KRJ.1 It also includes discussion of new developments in bail in

R v Antic2 and of the right to a trial in a reasonable time, as well as new

developments concerning the important pr inciple under section 7 of the

Charter that cr iminal offences should not be overbroad.

1 [2016] 1 SCR 906.

2 [2017] 1 SCR 509.