PO210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Partial Defence, Mental Disorder, Intoxication Defense
Document Summary
Under the constitution act 1867, the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction under criminal law. The criminal code prohibits the creation of common law offences, which means that only the legislature has the power to prescribe new offences (not the courts). For this reason, federal statutes are the main sources of criminal law (as we see, courts maintain interpretive authority over criminal law, which does impact the actual scope of offences) Provincial governments have jurisdiction over matters that appear to be criminal in language (i. e. the regulation and sanctioning of speeding on highways). These kinds of offences are considered "quasi-criminal law", as they share some features in common (i. e. the issuance of state-sanctioned penalties) but not others (i. e. added to a person"s criminal record) In order to achieve conviction on a criminal charge, the crown must prove beyond a reasonable doubt two elements of the crime: A physical act accompanied by a specific consequence.
