Review: Motor Vehicle Offences and the Summary Conviction Court
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836502900312 |
| Published date | 01 July 1965 |
| Date | 01 July 1965 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
228
THE
JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW
another man was tall, slim
and
dark.
The
Court said that
before such evidence could be admitted there
must
be shown
a hopeless, settled expectation of death.
The
deceased at
the
time was not dying
and
the
Court
thought
that
such strong
words used suggested acomplete exaggeration.
The
words
spoken by
the
deceased were plainly
not
true. (r
zth
April,
1965.)
Review
MOTOR VEHICLE OFFENCES AND THE SUMMARY CONVICTION COURT. By L. Paul
Shannon, B.A., of
the
Ontario Bar. Canada
Law
Book Company
Ltd.,
Toronto. Price not stated.
In
the
Province of Ontario offences arising from
the
operation or use
of
motor vehicles are dealt with
under
the
Criminal Code
of
Canada,
the
provincial Highway Traffic Act and municipal by-laws.
This
excellent book of 648 pages devotes half its contents to
the
relevant
portions of
the
Criminal Code and
the
other half to motor vehicle offences.
The
English reader will find
much
of interest in
the
first half and
much
that
is familiar, since criminal procedure and evidence follow
the
English
pattern quite closely. One notices minor differences.
For
instance, all process
whether by warrant or summons must be on a written and sworn information,
and
ajustice has power to examine witnesses on oath before issuing process.
The
court may not
try
two informations together, even apparently with
the
consent of
the
accused.
But perhaps
the
most striking difference between English and Ontario
road traffic law is
the
provision not only for maximum
but
also minimum
penalties-"he
is liable for
the
first offence to a fine
of
not less
than
10
dollars and not more
than
50 dollars"; "liable for a first offence to imprison-
ment
for not more than 3months and not less
than
30 days" (this is for
driving while intoxicated). Canada, of course, makes use of
the
suspended
sentence,
but
the
criminal code provides
that
such asentence may not be
passed if a
minimum
punishment is prescribed.
It
would appear
that
a
suspended sentence is not announced at
the
time of conviction and
the
procedure varies according to whether conviction is on indictment or in a
summary
court.
If
convicted on indictment sentence may be suspended and
the
offender
released on probation coupled with a recognizance to keep the peace and be of
good behaviour and to appear and receive sentence when called upon.
This
appears indistinguishable from
the
English probation system as it was
prior
to 1948,except
that
unless there are exceptional circumstances, the power may
only be exercised in
the
case of first offenders.
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