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Mens Rea, "guilty mind" (Lat), refers to the mental state that must generally accompany a prohibited act before it can legally be considered a crime.

Sentencing in criminal cases serves a variety of purposes, including deterrence, rehabilitation, denunciation and public protection. Purposes predominate depending on, for example, the nature and circumstances of the offence and the offender.

Impaired driving, also known as drunken driving, driving while impaired (DWI) and driving under the influence (DUI), has been a serious social problem as far back as the beginning of this century, when social scientists took note of the often deadly combination of alcohol and motor vehicles.

In a primarily rural society, such as 19th-century Canada, privacy was basically a territorial concept. Today, privacy tends to be defined not only territorially but as the right of individuals to determine when, how and to what extent information about themselves is to be communicated to others.

The rule of law is an underlying constitutional principle requiring government to be conducted according to law and making all public officers answerable for their acts in the ordinary courts (see ADMINISTRATIVE LAW).

All levels of government in Canada are involved in regulation.

Safety Standards, documents or codes which describe characteristics or usage for products, materials and services, are intended to protect citizens from the hazards of technology.

Transportation regulation is administered by all levels of government (federal, provincial, municipal) and covers prices, conditions and levels of service, and the operating authority of transport units.

​The regulation of motor vehicle traffic is one of the greatest legal challenges of the 21st century. Governments make traffic laws and statutes, but common law rules still play an important role.

Treason is probably the oldest and most serious offence in political society, with the possible exception of murder. The earliest English treason legislation, which dates from 1351, is the basis of all treason legislation in the English-speaking world.

Ultra Vires-Intra Vires Ultra vires [Lat, "beyond the powers"] is used in CONSTITUTIONAL LAW by the courts who must decide the respective competences of Parliament and provincial legislatures.

Uniform Law Conference of Canada was created with the object of promoting uniformity of legislation throughout Canada in areas of the law where that is desirable. It does this through the development of model legislation that it recommends for adoption by the provinces and territories.

Women have looked to the law as a tool to change their circumstances, while at the same time the law is one of the instruments which confirms their dependent status as citizens (see Status of Women). The first phase of the Women's Movement, in proclaiming that women were capable of reason as well as reproduction and nurturing, claimed a place for women in the public sphere, while also relying upon the concept of "separate spheres" to delineate their areas of strength and competence.

Successful actions to protect the ENVIRONMENT and conserve natural RESOURCES constitute environmental management.

An advance directive (sometimes referred to as a "living will") is a legal mechanism which enables individuals to plan for their own incapacity, and specifically for the situation where decisions have to be taken with respect to their health care after they are no longer mentally capable of making (or communicating) these decisions personally.

The media are the means by which we receive information we want and need. Over time, town criers and clay tablets have given way to printed text. Now, a wide variety of aural and visual information is conveyed to us in bits and bytes through a number of intermediaries.