In this 8th edition the book has been thoroughly updated and pruned to allow for the inclusion of important recent developments in the past five years. The following major new Supreme Court of Canada decisions receive detailed analysis:

• R v. Lloyd (2016) 27 C.R. (7th) 205 (S.C.C): mandatory gaol cruel and unusual punishment contrary to s.12 of Charter
• R v. Boudreault (2018) 51 C.R. (7th) 207R. Gauld Joseph (Applicant) and Oumaima Bourghol, Mustapha Bourghol, Vincent Karim, Valérie Tellier and Janie Boudreault (Respondents), 2019 CarswellQue 8577 (Supreme Court of Canada): mandatory victim surcharges contrary to section 12 of Charter
• R v. Javanmardi, 2019 SCC 54, 2019 CSC 54 Supreme Court of Canada : manslaughter and activity-centred approach to objective fault
• R v. Morrison, 2019 SCC 15 : internet luring -- underage belief requirement and no presumption
• R v. Barton, 2019 SCC 33; 54 C.R. (7th) 231 : sexual assault -- consent and belief in communicated consent
• R v. Simpson 2015 SCC 40; 21 C.R. (7th) 225: colour of right defence applicable to all property offences
• R v. Tatton 2015 SCC 33; 20 C.R. (7th) 221: specific intent and no intoxication defence to arson

This edition addresses major jurisprudence in lower courts particularly respecting justifications or excuses. In 2013 the Harper Government’s enacted new, simplified Criminal Code provisions respecting the defences of person and property. The reform was long overdue but the new provisions have left far to many uncertainties for courts to work out such as the approach to proportionality, whether there is any duty to retreat and the extent to which the sensitivity to accused acting in abusive situations declared by the Supreme Court in Lavallee is still in place. Two jury acquittals of Caucasian men charged with the murder of Indigenous men in the name of self-defence have been highly controversial. The Manitoba and Ontario Courts of Appeal differ as to whether the defence of duress can ever be a defence to murder. Lower courts have struck down Harper amendments limiting the partial provocation defence.

In the context of sexual assault this edition pays careful attention to the full analysis of Justice Moldaver for the Court in Barton respecting the proof definition of the actus reus of no consent and the separate and now heavily limited defence of belief in communicated consent. The controversial limits Parliament and the Supreme Court have placed on Canada’s unique rape shield provision, under which admissibility applies equally to other sexual conduct between the accused and the complainant, is troubling but beyond the scope of this substantive law book.