CRIM 330 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Summary Offence, Indictable Offence, Hybrid Offence
16 May 2018
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CRIM 330 - Lecture 2 - Hybrid Offences, Elections, Jurisdiction
Hybrid Offences
● Allow prosecution by way of indictment/summary conviction process
● Can only be created by federal government
● Crown (prosecutor) makes decision about whether to proceed by summary
conviction/indictment
● Examples:
○ Section 266
○ Section 271
Elections
● (a) Exclusive or Absolute Jurisdiction vs. Election
○ For many offences the court w/ jurisdiction is clearly stated
■ If only one court has jurisdiction then we say that court has exclusive (or
absolute) jurisdiction over case/offence
○ However, for other offences the accused is given a choice as to what court they
will be tried in (superior vs. inferior/provincial) and the mode of trial (judge alone
vs. judge and jury)
■ When accused has choice we say they may make an election
○ Where an accused has election they have 3 options
■ Provincial Court - judge alone
■ Superior Court - judge alone
■ Superior Court - judge and jury
○ Accused entitled to election for any offence for which there is no court with
absolute jurisdiction
○ When does accused not get choice?
■ Ask when thinking about whether accused gets to choose
■ Easiest way to understand when accused has election is to understand
what offences are within absolute jurisdiction of court
● When CC refers to provincial court
○ Here, Provincial Court of British Columbia
■ BC Supreme Court
● (b) Absolute Jurisdiction: Provincial Court
○ Trial in Provincial Court always takes place before judge alone (no juries)
○ Provincial Court has absolute jurisdiction over following offences
■ All quasi/non-criminal offences (provincial & municipal)
■ All summary conviction criminal offences
■ All hybrid offences where Crown proceeds by summary conviction
■ All section 553 offences
● Includes both indictable & hybrid offences
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find more resources at oneclass.com
● Note this means not only are these indictable offences in
jurisdiction of Provincial Court, but mode of trial will be judge alone
● So for purposes of understanding elections, it is important to
understand that indictable offences & hybrid offences listed in
section 553 are w/i absolute jurisdiction of Provincial Court &
therefore accused would not have election
● All summary offences fall in absolute jurisdiction of Supreme Court of BC
● There are indictable offences falling in absolute jurisdiction of Provincial Court
○ There are also hybrid offences falling in absolute jurisdiction
● Section 553 (excerpts)
○ “The jurisdiction of a provincial court judge, or in Nunavut, of a judge of the
Nunavut Court of Justice, to try an accused is absolute and does not depend on
the consent of the accused where the accused is charged in an information”
● (c) Absolute Jurisdiction: Superior Court
○ All section 469 offences are absolute jurisdiction of superior court (and mode of
trial will be judge and jury)
○ Every court of criminal jurisdiction has jurisdiction to try an indictable offence
other than an offence under any of the following sections
■ Section 47
■ Section 49
■ Section 51
■ Section 53
■ Section 61
■ Section 74
■ Section 75
■ Section 235
● (d) Election
○ To simplify, accused has election if charged w/
■ Indictable offence not coming under s. 469 or s. 553
■ A hybrid offence where Crown proceeds by indictment (except hybrid
offences falling under s. 553)
○ Election is made by accused in Provincial Court, w/ judge “putting the accused to
an election” in words specified in s. 536(2)
● (e) Re-Election
○ Section 561 sets out opportunity for accused to change their mind & elect
different mode of trial
○ Rules are different depending on point in time & initial election by accused
○ In some cases written consent of prosecutor is required, in other cases it isn’t
● (f) overriding Accused’s Election
○ Section 568 states that Attorney General may require trial by superior court judge
& jury notwithstanding the accused’s election if offence is punishable by more
than 5 years
■ Limited ability of Attorney General to override
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find more resources at oneclass.com
○ Note this is about allowing Attorney General to force jury trial when accused has
already elected trial by judge alone
○ In some instances, re-election possible that consent of prosecutor required
○ Trial by jury can only take place in Superior Court
Jurisdiction
● (a) Introduction
○ Means authority of court to hear & decide a case
○ Takes 2 forms
■ Jurisdiction over the person (only persons 12 and over)
■ Jurisdiction over the offence
○ Focus here on jurisdiction over the offence… there are three main factors
affecting a court’s jurisdiction over an offence
■ CCC provisions (seen above re:absolute jurisdiction, elections)
■ territory/geography
■ temporal/time (limitation periods, Charter requirements)
○ Will not look at latter two (territory and time)
● (b) Territorial Jurisdiction
○ (i) limitations on Territorial Jurisdiction
■ Generally courts cannot hear cases involving offences committed outside
Canada
■ Exceptions can be found in CCC section 7 - if offence committed in
Canadian registered aircraft, falls under jurisdiction of Canadian court
■ Assault on aircraft, which is hybrid, is deemed indictable; if flight
terminates in Canada, whatever offence committed on flight is under
jurisdiction of Canadian court
■ If someone commits sexual offence against children that if committed in
Canada would be offence against certain sections, will be deemed to
commit that act/omission in Canada if person who commits act or
omission is Canadian citizen/permanent resident
○ Generally courts of province cannot hear cases involving offences committed in
another province
■ Exception - waiver whereby accused can, with consent of Attorney
General, plead guilty & be sentenced for offence committed in another
province (non s. 469 offences only)
■ Only way trial could be moved if plead guilty
● Defense can request for matter to be dealt w/ in diff province on occasion, but must
plead guilty
○ But up to discretion of Attorney General
■ Might deny it b/c wish for justice to be served in province where crime
committed
● (i) Venue
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Crim 330 - lecture 2 - hybrid offences, elections, jurisdiction. Allow prosecution by way of indictment/summary conviction process. Can only be created by federal government. Crown (prosecutor) makes decision about whether to proceed by summary conviction/indictment. Elections (a) exclusive or absolute jurisdiction vs. election. For many offences the court w/ jurisdiction is clearly stated. If only one court has jurisdiction then we say that court has exclusive (or absolute) jurisdiction over case/offence. However, for other offences the accused is given a choice as to what court they will be tried in (superior vs. inferior/provincial) and the mode of trial (judge alone vs. judge and jury) When accused has choice we say they may make an election. Where an accused has election they have 3 options. Accused entitled to election for any offence for which there is no court with absolute jurisdiction. Ask when thinking about whether accused gets to choose.
