Intro Terms
This is the guilty act, the physical act of committing an offence, demonstrated when a person physically swings a bat and strikes someone.
What is Actus Reus?
This is the federal statute that lists most offences and the procedures for prosecuting them in Canada, the document you'd check to find the offence of theft under $5,000.
What is the Criminal Code?
This branch of law relates to offences against society, prosecuted by the Crown, and would apply to a case of armed robbery.
What is Criminal law?
This is Canada's highest court, which hears final appeals and has unlimited jurisdiction, and would hear the final appeal of a national constitutional case.
What is the Supreme Court?
This is encouraging or urging someone else to commit an offence, shown when someone cheers on and urges a friend to start a fight.
What is Abetting?
This is deliberately avoiding finding out a fact in order to dodge responsibility, shown when someone agrees to carry a package without asking what's inside, to avoid finding out it's drugs.
What is Wilful Blindness?
This is the guilty mind, the intent or knowledge behind an offence, shown when someone plans and intends to strike another person.
What is Mens Rea?
This is a less serious offence tried quickly without a jury, usually carrying fines up to $2,000 and very short jail sentences, such as causing a public disturbance or trespassing at night.
What is a Summary offence?
This branch of law relates to disputes between private parties over their rights and duties, and would apply if a neighbour sued over a broken fence.
What is Civil law?
This is the court that hears matters like immigration, tax, and disputes involving the federal government, the court you'd go to for a dispute over immigration status.
What is Federal Court?
This is helping or assisting someone else to commit an offence, shown when someone drives the getaway car during a robbery.
What is Aiding?
This is the underlying reason that drives someone to act, such as jealousy or financial gain behind a crime.
What is Motive?
This is to formally change or revise an existing law, done when Parliament updates the Criminal Code to add a new type of offence.
What is to Amend?
This is a more serious offence with harsher penalties and a more formal trial process, such as murder or robbery.
What is an Indictable offence?
This branch of law governs relationships between individuals, such as contracts and property, and would govern a dispute over a signed apartment lease.
What is Private law?
This is the court that handles most day-to-day criminal and provincial matters, where most minor criminal charges like shoplifting are first heard.
What is Provincial Court?
This is failing to take reasonable care, causing harm to another person, shown when a store owner fails to clean up a spill and a customer is injured. It is NOT the same as recklessness.
What is Negligence?
This is making a behaviour that was once criminal punishable only by a fine, done when a jurisdiction changes possession of a small amount of a drug into a fine-only offence.
What is to Decriminalize?
This is to formally create a new law, done when Parliament passes a brand-new law banning a substance.
What is to Enact?
This is an offence the Crown may choose to prosecute as either summary or indictable, falling between the two in seriousness, such as assault or impaired driving.
What is a Hybrid offence?
This branch of law governs relationships between individuals and the state, and would apply if a citizen challenged a new government regulation.
What is Public law?
This is someone who helps before or after an offence without being present for it, such as someone who lends a weapon knowing it will be used in a robbery.
Who is an Accessory?
This is the deadline by which legal proceedings must be started, the kind of deadline that exists for civil lawsuits but not for murder charges in Canada.
What is a Statute of Limitations?
This is removing all punishment for a once illegal behaviour, done when a government removes all penalties for cannabis possession.
What is to Legalize?
This is a group of citizens who weigh evidence and decide a verdict, the twelve citizens chosen to decide guilt in a serious criminal trial.
What is a Jury?
This is an agreement between two or more people to commit an unlawful act, shown when two people plan together to rob a bank, even before it happens.
What is Conspiracy?
This is law built from judges' decisions and precedent rather than written statutes, the source of law behind many rules on negligence that were never written into a statute.
What is Common law?
This is the side that brings and argues charges against the accused, represented by the Crown attorney in a criminal trial.
What is the Prosecution?
This is the high standard of proof needed for a criminal conviction, the standard a jury must have overcome before convicting someone of murder.
What is Reasonable Doubt?
This is someone who helps a person evade police after learning they committed a crime, shown when someone hides a friend they know just committed a robbery.
What is an Accessory after the fact?