Legal glossary

The 51 terms that come up again and again when you judge a real Canadian criminal case. These are the same definitions you can tap inside the game; here, each one links to the cases in the library that turn on it.

GUILTY or NOT? is the original daily true crime puzzle, hosted by Every Defence LLP: one real Canadian criminal case a day. Read the facts as the court had them, weigh the Crown against the defence, decide GUILTY or NOT, then see what the court actually decided.

absolute discharge: A finding of guilt with no conviction registered and no conditions. The most lenient disposition available.
absolute liability: An offence where proof of the act alone convicts and due diligence is no answer. Imprisonment is not available for absolute liability offences.
actus reus: The prohibited act, omission or state of affairs. Together with mens rea it makes up the offence the Crown must prove.
amnesty order: A federal order that temporarily shields owners of newly prohibited firearms from criminal liability while they come into compliance.
autrefois acquit: The plea that the accused has already been acquitted of the same matter. With autrefois convict and the Charter, it bars being tried twice for the same offence.
balance of probabilities: The civil standard — more likely than not. In criminal cases it applies only where an accused bears a burden, such as proving not criminally responsible.
beyond a reasonable doubt: The criminal standard of proof. Closer to absolute certainty than to a balance of probabilities: a doubt based on reason and common sense, not sympathy or speculation.
burden of proof: The obligation to prove a matter. In a criminal trial it rests on the Crown throughout; an accused never has to prove innocence.
careless storage: Storing, transporting or handling a firearm without reasonable precautions for the safety of others — judged on the marked departure standard. 4 cases →
circumstantial evidence: Evidence from which a fact is inferred rather than directly observed. A conviction on it requires that guilt be the only reasonable inference on the whole of the evidence. 3 cases →
conditional discharge: A finding of guilt with no conviction registered, on condition the offender complies with a probation order.
conditional sentence: A sentence of imprisonment served in the community under strict conditions, available only where the statutory preconditions are met.
constructive possession: Possession without physically holding the thing — knowledge of it plus a measure of control, for example a gun in a room or vehicle the accused controls.
Crown election: The Crown's choice, on a hybrid offence, to proceed by indictment or summarily.
defence of property: A justification for acts done to protect property you peaceably possess from being taken, damaged or entered, where the act is reasonable in the circumstances.
duress: An excuse where the accused acted under threats of death or bodily harm with no safe avenue of escape. 2 cases →
entrapment: An abuse of process where the state offered a person the opportunity to commit an offence without reasonable suspicion, or went beyond providing an opportunity and induced it. The remedy is a stay, not an acquittal.
forfeiture: A court order that seized weapons are forfeited to the Crown and disposed of, usually made on conviction or after a public-safety hearing.
Garofoli: The procedure for challenging a search warrant. The question is whether the issuing justice could have granted it on the record, not whether the reviewing judge would have.
Gladue: The requirement that a sentencing judge consider the background factors of an Indigenous offender and the sanctions that may be appropriate in the circumstances.
hearsay: An out-of-court statement offered for the truth of its contents. Presumptively inadmissible, but admissible where it is both necessary and sufficiently reliable.
hybrid offence: An offence the Crown may prosecute either by indictment or summarily. Most firearms offences are hybrid; the choice shapes penalty and procedure.
imitation firearm: Something made to resemble a firearm. Several weapons offences expressly reach imitations, so the Crown need not prove the object could fire. 3 cases →
indictable offence: The more serious class of offence, carrying higher maximum penalties and, for many, a right to trial by judge and jury. 2 cases →
information to obtain: The sworn document in which an officer sets out the grounds for a search warrant. Attacking it is how most search challenges begin.
innocent possession: A narrow defence for someone who holds a prohibited item briefly and solely to turn it in or destroy it, with no criminal purpose. 1 case →
joint possession: Where two or more people knowingly possess the same thing with the consent and knowledge of the others. Mere presence alongside it is not enough.
Kienapple: The rule against multiple convictions for the same delict. It applies only where the counts share both a factual and a legal nexus — one conviction is stayed. 1 case →
mandatory minimum: A sentencing floor set by Parliament. Several firearms minimums have been struck down under the Charter where they would be grossly disproportionate in a reasonably foreseeable case.
marked departure: The fault standard for penal negligence, including careless use and careless storage of a firearm: conduct falling markedly below what a reasonable person would do in the circumstances. 1 case →
mens rea: The mental element of an offence — the guilty mind. Most Criminal Code offences require both a prohibited act and a blameworthy state of mind.
necessity: An excuse for breaking the law under urgent peril where there was no reasonable legal alternative and the harm inflicted was proportionate to the harm avoided.
non-restricted firearm: An ordinary rifle or shotgun that is neither prohibited nor restricted. Some offences, including possession of a loaded prohibited or restricted firearm, do not reach it.
not criminally responsible: A verdict where a mental disorder rendered the accused incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or of knowing it was wrong. It is a verdict, not an acquittal. 2 cases →
operability: Whether the object can actually discharge a projectile. It is an element the Crown must prove, judged on the whole of the evidence about the weapon as it was found. 2 cases →
preliminary inquiry: A pre-trial hearing testing whether there is enough evidence to commit an accused to trial. Now available only for the most serious offences.
prima facie: Latin for "on its face." A prima facie case is one with enough evidence on each element that a properly instructed jury could convict.
prohibited firearm: A class defined by the Criminal Code and its regulations — including most handguns with short barrels, sawed-off rifles and shotguns, and automatic firearms. 3 cases →
prohibition order: A court order barring a person from possessing firearms and other weapons, mandatory on conviction for many offences. Breaching one is itself an offence. 9 cases →
reasonable and probable grounds: The standard police must meet to arrest or to obtain most search warrants: an objectively supportable belief, not mere suspicion.
reasonable suspicion: A lower standard than reasonable and probable grounds — a constellation of objectively discernible facts suggesting criminal activity, enough for some investigative powers.
restricted firearm: A class including most handguns and certain semi-automatic centre-fire long guns, subject to registration and to limits on where it may be taken. 8 cases →
section 10(b): The Charter right on arrest or detention to retain and instruct counsel without delay, and to be told of that right.
section 24(2): The Charter remedy of excluding evidence obtained in breach of a right, where admitting it would bring the administration of justice into disrepute. 1 case →
section 8: The Charter right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure. A search is presumptively unreasonable without a warrant. 1 case →
self-defence: A justification for acts done to protect yourself or another from force or threatened force, where the act is reasonable in the circumstances. 2 cases →
Stinchcombe: The Crown's constitutional duty to disclose all relevant, non-privileged material in its possession, whether or not it intends to rely on it.
strict liability: An offence where the Crown need not prove fault, but the accused can avoid liability by showing due diligence — reasonable care to avoid the prohibited act.
summary conviction: The less serious class of offence, tried in provincial court with lower maximum penalties and a limitation period on laying the charge.
voir dire: A trial within a trial, held to decide whether particular evidence is admissible. The trier of fact does not use what it hears there to decide guilt.
wilful blindness: Deliberately not asking a question because you suspect the answer. In law it substitutes for actual knowledge — you cannot escape liability by choosing not to look. 1 case →

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