canadian-criminal-code-vezril

The Criminal Code of Canada (C-46)

Canada's federal criminal statute — one Code for the whole country, because criminal law and procedure are exclusively federal (Constitution Act, 1867, s. 91(27)), while the administration of justice is provincial (s. 92(14)), so the provinces run the police, most prosecutions, and the courts.

It is enormous: ~2.5 million characters across 38 Parts. This skill is a map — how it's organized, how classification drives everything, and how to find things. It cannot be a treatise, and it is not one.

Orientation, not advice — and not a how-to

I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. It describes how the statute is structured, quoting provisions to show how they're worded — not to advise on conduct, and not as guidance for committing or evading offences. If you're facing a charge, you need a lawyer — see [[quebec-legal-system]] for legal aid (indictable charges qualify automatically in Quebec).

And the biggest caveat, which the Code itself won't tell you: the printed text is not the law. s. 17 still prints words the Supreme Court struck in 2001. Mandatory minimums remain on the page after being declared of no force. Always pair a provision with the Charter jurisprudence and the s. 8(3) common-law defences.

• references/part-map.md — the full Part structure with section ranges, where common offences live, the key offence definitions (265, 322, 348, 380, 430), and the navigation rules.
• references/principles-procedure-sentencing.md — classification in depth, general principles (ss. 8(3), 21–24), defences, procedure (bail, prelim, the election, jury architecture), sentencing (718, 718.1, 718.2, discharges, CSOs, minimums), and the Charter overlay.

The one concept that organizes everything: classification

Read the penalty clause first. It tells you the class, and the class determines the court, the procedure, the maximum, the limitation period, and the appeal route.