Search for ""

Technically, there is no "intoxication" defence to criminal charges in Canadian law.

On 4 August 1701, the French concluded a peace agreement with the Five Nations Haudenosaunee (Iroquois). This brought to an end almost a century of hostilities marked by atrocities on both sides. The Haudenosaunee were permitted to trade freely and to obtain goods from the French at a reduced cost. In exchange, they pledged to allow French settlement at Detroit and to remain neutral in the event of a war between England and France. The accord assured New France superiority in dealing with issues related to the region’s First Nations. It also gave the French the freedom to expand militarily over the next half century.

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.

Two main groups of people lack capacity for criminal responsibility - the very young and the mentally disordered.

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.

For many offences, the Criminal Code prescribes only maximum sentences, giving judges wide latitude to determine fit penalties. Judges consider a broad array of aggravating and mitigating factors in sentencing. One aggravating factor is the motivation of racial or group hatred for an offence.

In Canada, the public promotion of hate against identifiable groups and the advocacy of genocide is, under certain conditions, a criminal offence, punishable by up to 2 years' imprisonment.

The duty which requires physicians to keep the information they receive from their patients confidential is well established in Canadian common law, health care legislation and professional codes of conduct.

Canada maintains a separate justice system for the Canadian Forces.

The INTERNET is a communications network that interconnects various computer networks by way of telecommunications. The nature of Internet technology makes it difficult for the law to regulate Internet users and information that is transmitted on the Internet.

Restitution is a legal response calculated to take away a gain or enrichment that is considered to be inappropriate. It developed to address situations of unjust enrichment that were not adequately addressed by the laws of tort or contract.

Underlying the move toward the establishment of an independent or quasi-independent Indigenous justice system is a recognition that there are certain values and customs historically attached to Indigenous communities. In addition, the concept of an independent justice system is viewed as being consonant with the notion of the inherent right of Indigenous self-government.

The reference on Saskatchewan electoral boundaries (1991) comprised an important decision by the Supreme Court on the right to vote as set out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In the Cooper case (1996), a majority of the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Canadian Human Rights Commission did not have the power under its enabling statute to pronounce upon the constitutional validity of the mandatory age of retirement.

In the Kindler case (1991), the majority of judges on the Supreme Court ruled that the Canadian procedure in extradition matters did not violate section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which specifies that everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person.

A free trade area as defined by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is "a group of two or more customs territories in which duties and other restrictive regulations of commerce... are eliminated on substantially all the trade between the constituent territories in products originating in such territories."