THE CRIMINAL LAW, 1867-1967

Authors

  • ALAN W MEWETT

Abstract

Alan W. Mewett examines the state of Canada’s criminal law and the impact of the Criminal Code on Canadian jurisprudence over its seventy-five year existence, identifying emerging trends. Notwithstanding the divergence of Canadian criminal law from its English roots, Mewett characterises the Supreme Court’s approach to criminal matters as traditional and finds that the laws of evidence and procedure have remained remarkably static. The author’s elegiac conclusion is that the criminal law has not progressed in one hundred years, nor can it progress beyond a slight reshuffling within assumed boundaries so long as those boundaries continue to be accepted as absolutes. The process of criminal legislation must be removed from the petty political arena as quickly as possible and can no longer be regarded in isolation from the other aspects of the criminal process.

Keywords:

Criminal Law, Jurisprudence, Supreme Court

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Published

1967-12-01

Issue

Section

Legal Commentary