GUILTY or NOT? / Glossary
Canadian legal glossary
Duress
An excuse where the accused acted under threats of death or bodily harm with no safe avenue of escape.
Cases that turn on it
The 2 real Canadian cases in the library whose brief uses this term. Read the facts, then decide — the verdict stays in the game.
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The Driver at Gunpoint
1977
Paquette v The Queen — Non-capital murder, as a party under s. 21(2) (then s. 218; now s. 235) · Supreme Court of Canada (Ontario)
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Three Packages and a Threat
2001
R v Ruzic — Importing a narcotic (then s. 5(1), Narcotic Control Act; now s. 6, Controlled Drugs and Substances Act) and use of a false passport (s. 368) · Supreme Court of Canada (Ontario)
Related category: Defences & Mental State
Self-defence, duress, necessity, consent, automatism and not criminally responsible — the cases where the act is admitted and the fight is over whether the law excuses it. The newest Defences & Mental State cases in the library:
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The Videotaped Complaint
2006
R v Khelawon — Aggravated assault (s. 268) · Supreme Court of Canada (Ontario)
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The Broken Guitar
2019
R v Ruddick — Aggravated assault (s. 268(1) Criminal Code) · Supreme Court of Nova Scotia
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The Mushrooms and the Stranger's House
2022
R v Brown — Break and enter and committing aggravated assault (ss. 348(1)(b), 268) · Supreme Court of Canada (Alberta)
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The Carving Knife
2025
R v McCrae — Possession of a weapon for a purpose dangerous to the public peace (s. 88(1)) · Supreme Court of British Columbia
All 14 Defences & Mental State cases →
See also: Defences
← defence of property · entrapment → · All 51 terms
A new real Canadian case every day. Read the brief, weigh the Crown against the defence, commit to a verdict, then see what the court decided — and why.