Criminal Code
Sections and provisions with full text and the judgments that cite each one.
Section 571 — Adjournment
A judge or provincial court judge acting under this Part may from time to time adjourn a trial until it is finally terminated.
Section 572 — Application of Parts XVI, XVIII, XX and XXIII
The provisions of Part XVI, the provisions of Part XVIII relating to transmission of the record by a provincial court judge where he holds a preliminary inquiry, and the provisions of Parts XX and…
Section 573 — Nunavut Court of Justice
The powers to be exercised and the duties and functions to be performed under this Act by a court of criminal jurisdiction, a summary conviction court, a judge, a provincial court judge, a justice or…
Section 573.1 — Application for review — Nunavut
An application for review may be made by the Attorney General or the accused, or by any person directly affected by the decision or order, to a judge of the Court of Appeal of Nunavut in respect of a…
Section 573.2 — Habeas corpus
Habeas corpus proceedings may be brought before a judge of the Court of Appeal of Nunavut in respect of an order made or warrant issued by a judge of the Nunavut Court of Justice, except where the…
Section 574 — Prosecutor may prefer indictment
Subject to subsection (3), the prosecutor may, whether the charges were included in one information or not, prefer an indictment against any person who has been ordered to stand trial in respect of…
Section 575
[Repealed, R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 113]
Section 576 — Indictment
Except as provided in this Act, no indictment shall be preferred. No criminal information shall be laid or granted and no bill of indictment shall be preferred before a grand jury. No person shall be…
Section 577 — Direct indictments
Despite section 574, an indictment may be preferred even if the accused has not been given the opportunity to request a preliminary inquiry, a preliminary inquiry has been commenced but not concluded…
Section 578 — Summons or warrant
Where notice of the recommencement of proceedings has been given pursuant to subsection 579(2) or an indictment has been filed with the court before which the proceedings are to commence or…
Section 579 — Attorney General may direct stay
The Attorney General or counsel instructed by the Attorney General for that purpose may, at any time after any proceedings in relation to an accused or a defendant are commenced and before judgment,…
Section 579.001 — Instruction to stay
The Attorney General or counsel instructed by him or her for that purpose shall, at any time after proceedings in relation to an act or omission of a preclearance officer , as defined in section 5 of…
Section 579.01 — When Attorney General does not stay proceedings
If the Attorney General intervenes in proceedings and does not stay them under section 579, he or she may, without conducting the proceedings, call witnesses, examine and cross-examine witnesses,…
Section 579.1 — Intervention by Attorney General of Canada or Director of Public Prosecutions
The Attorney General of Canada or the Director of Public Prosecutions appointed under subsection 3(1) of the Director of Public Prosecutions Act , or counsel instructed by him or her for that…
Section 580 — Form of indictment
An indictment is sufficient if it is on paper and is in Form 4.
Section 581 — Substance of offence
Each count in an indictment shall in general apply to a single transaction and shall contain in substance a statement that the accused or defendant committed an offence therein specified. The…
Section 582 — High treason and first degree murder
No person shall be convicted for the offence of high treason or first degree murder unless in the indictment charging the offence he is specifically charged with that offence.
Section 583 — Certain omissions not grounds for objection
No count in an indictment is insufficient by reason of the absence of details where, in the opinion of the court, the count otherwise fulfils the requirements of section 581 and, without restricting…
Section 584 — Sufficiency of count charging libel
No count for publishing a seditious or defamatory libel, or for selling or exhibiting an obscene book, pamphlet, newspaper or other written matter, is insufficient by reason only that it does not set…
Section 585 — Sufficiency of count charging perjury, etc.
No count that charges perjury, the making of a false oath or a false statement, fabricating evidence, or procuring the commission of an offence mentioned in paragraph (a), (b) or (c), is insufficient…
Section 586 — Sufficiency of count relating to fraud
No count that alleges false pretences, fraud or any attempt or conspiracy by fraudulent means is insufficient by reason only that it does not set out in detail the nature of the false pretence, fraud…
Section 587 — What may be ordered
A court may, where it is satisfied that it is necessary for a fair trial, order the prosecutor to furnish particulars and, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, may order the…
Section 588 — Ownership
The real and personal property of which a person has, by law, the management, control or custody shall, for the purposes of an indictment or proceeding against any other person for an offence…
Section 589 — Count for murder
No count that charges an indictable offence other than murder shall be joined in an indictment to a count that charges murder unless the count that charges the offence other than murder arises out of…
Section 590 — Offences may be charged in the alternative
A count is not objectionable by reason only that it charges in the alternative several different matters, acts or omissions that are stated in the alternative in an enactment that describes as an…
Section 591 — Joinder of counts
Subject to section 589, any number of counts for any number of offences may be joined in the same indictment, but the counts shall be distinguished in the manner shown in Form 4. Where there is more…
Section 592 — Accessories after the fact
Any one who is charged with being an accessory after the fact to any offence may be indicted, whether or not the principal or any other party to the offence has been indicted or convicted or is or is…
Section 593 — Trial of persons jointly
Any number of persons may be charged in the same indictment with an offence under section 354 or 355.4 or paragraph 356(1)(b), even though the property was had in possession at different times; or…
Section 594 to 596
[Repealed, R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 120]
Section 597 — Bench warrant
Where an indictment has been preferred against a person who is at large, and that person does not appear or remain in attendance for his trial, the court before which the accused should have appeared…
Section 598 — Election deemed to be waived
Notwithstanding anything in this Act, where a person to whom subsection 597(1) applies has elected or is deemed to have elected to be tried by a court composed of a judge and jury and, at the time he…
Section 599 — Reasons for change of venue
A court before which an accused is or may be indicted, at any term or sittings thereof, or a judge who may hold or sit in that court, may at any time before or after an indictment is found, on the…
Section 600 — Order is authority to remove prisoner
An order that is made under section 599 is sufficient warrant, justification and authority to all sheriffs, keepers of prisons and peace officers for the removal, disposal and reception of an accused…
Section 601 — Amending defective indictment or count
An objection to an indictment preferred under this Part or to a count in an indictment, for a defect apparent on its face, shall be taken by motion to quash the indictment or count before the accused…
Section 602
[Repealed, R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 124]
Section 603 — Right of accused
An accused is entitled, after he has been ordered to stand trial or at his trial, to inspect without charge the indictment, his own statement, the evidence and the exhibits, if any; and to receive,…
Section 604
[Repealed, 1997, c. 18, s. 69]
Section 605 — Release of exhibits for testing
A judge of a superior court of criminal jurisdiction or a court of criminal jurisdiction may, on summary application on behalf of the accused or the prosecutor, after three days notice to the accused…
Section 606 — Pleas permitted
An accused who is called on to plead may plead guilty or not guilty, or the special pleas authorized by this Part and no others. A court may accept a plea of guilty only if it is satisfied that the…
Section 607 — Special pleas
An accused may plead the special pleas of autrefois acquit ; autrefois convict ; pardon; and an expungement order under the Expungement of Historically Unjust Convictions Act . An accused who is…
Section 608 — Evidence of identity of charges
Where an issue on a plea of autrefois acquit or autrefois convict is tried, the evidence and adjudication and the notes of the judge and official stenographer on the former trial and the record…
Section 609 — What determines identity
Where an issue on a plea of autrefois acquit or autrefois convict to a count is tried and it appears that the matter on which the accused was given in charge on the former trial is the same in whole…
Section 610 — Circumstances of aggravation
Where an indictment charges substantially the same offence as that charged in an indictment on which an accused was previously convicted or acquitted, but adds a statement of intention or…
Section 611 — Libel, plea of justification
An accused who is charged with publishing a defamatory libel may plead that the defamatory matter published by him was true, and that it was for the public benefit that the matter should have been…
Section 612 — Plea of justification necessary
The truth of the matters charged in an alleged libel shall not be inquired into in the absence of a plea of justification under section 611 unless the accused is charged with publishing the libel…
Section 613 — Plea of not guilty
Any ground of defence for which a special plea is not provided by this Act may be relied on under the plea of not guilty.
Section 614 to 619
[ Repealed, 1991, c. 43, s. 3]
Section 620 — Appearance by attorney
Every organization against which an indictment is filed shall appear and plead by counsel or agent.
Section 621 — Notice to organization
The clerk of the court or the prosecutor may, where an indictment is filed against an organization, cause a notice of the indictment to be served on the organization. A notice of an indictment…
Section 622 — Procedure on default of appearance
Where an organization does not appear in accordance with the notice referred to in section 621, the presiding judge may, on proof of service of the notice, order the clerk of the court to enter a…