This comprehensive text provides vital background information and a coherent structure for understanding the law. Focusing on the substantive aspects of the criminal justice system and the trial context, this casebook covers the adversary system, how the elements of crime are proven, defences and sentencing practices. Features include a concentration on the main sources (including the Criminal Code), key judicial decisions and critical review, judicious editing of the increasingly lengthy reasons for judgment in major cases, an extended introductory section and problems based on actual decisions or designed to provoke thought on current social issues.

This edition rests content with the major structural changes made in the 10th edition. Apart from the usual clarifications and updates, the major additions are:

• 2008 Senate bill to repeal s. 43 (authorising physical discipline of children);
• Revised notes on procedural classification of offences and on different uses of the term “evidentiary burden”;
• Supreme Court decisions in:
- J.H.S. (criticising the W.D. formula for reasonable doubt),
- J.F. (marked and substantial departure from norm test for criminal negligence),
- Beatty (modifying marked departure from norm test for dangerous driving),
- Daley (degrees of intoxication) and
- Dery (no crime of attempted conspiracy);
• Ontario Court of Appeal rulings in:
- Luedecke (sexsomnia to result in NCR-MD finding),
- Mullins-Johnson (no verdict of factual innocence),
- Chalk (control for possession of child pornography),
- Kubassek (de minimis non curat lex),
- Talbot (simplifying causation) and
- Humaid (race and provocation);
• Dissenting judgment of Wittman J.A. of the Alberta Court of Appeal in Kong (accepted by the Supreme Court as the proper interpretation of self-defence provisions in ss.34(1) and (2)).

Don Stuart is Professor of Law at Queen's University . He is Editor-in-Chief of the Criminal Reports (Carswell) and of the National Judicial Institute, Criminal Law Essentials eletter. He is author of Canadian Criminal Law: A Treatise, 5th ed. (Carswell 2007) and Charter Justice in Canadian Criminal Law, 5th ed. (Carswell, 2010).and co-author of Learning Canadian Criminal Law , 11th ed. (Carswell, 2009) and Evidence: Principles and Problems, 9th ed. (Carswell, 2010)

Ron Delisle, B.Sc., LL.B., LL.M., is a Professor Emeritus of Law at Queen's University. A former Ontario provincial court judge, he is the co-author of Evidence: Principles and Problems, Canadian Evidence Law in a Nutshell, 3nd Ed. 2010 , Learning Canadian Criminal Law, 11th Ed. 2009 (Carswell), and Learning Canadian Criminal Procedure, 9th Ed. 2010 (Carswell).

Steve Coughlan has been at Dalhousie Law School since 1992, where he teaches criminal law and criminal procedure, among other subjects. He has received a number of awards for his teaching, including the Dalhousie Alumni Association Award of Excellence for Teaching and the Association of Atlantic Universities Distinguished Teacher Award. He is a co-editor of the Criminal Reports and of the National Judicial Institute's Criminal Law Essentials e-Letter. Prior to joining the faculty at Dalhousie he worked for the Law Reform Commission of Canada Criminal Procedure Project and for the Metro Community Law Clinic.