The Criminal Code of Canada (C-46)

The Criminal Code of Canada (R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46) as a navigable map — how the statute is organized and how to find things in it. Built by parsing the official consolidated text (laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, current to 2026-05-26), with Part ranges extracted programmatically from the body and cross-checked against the TOC. Covers: the full Part structure I–XXVIII with section ranges (the substantive Parts I–XIII vs the procedural/sentencing Parts XIV–XXVIII), and why decimal Parts and sections are insertions so section numbers cannot be arithmetic (320.4 comes after 320.104); the CLASSIFICATION system that drives everything — indictable vs summary vs hybrid, where 'hybrid' appears zero times in the Code and is expressed structurally as 'indictable … or … punishable on summary conviction' (345 occurrences), the s. 787 default summary penalty ($5,000 / two years less a day, the penitentiary-vs-jail line), and the s. 786(2) 12-month limitation that applies only to summary proceedings, can be waived by agreement, and has no indictable counterpart; general principles (s. 2 definitions, the s. 8(3) preservation of common-law defences against s. 9's bar on common-law offences, parties s. 21, counselling s. 22, accessory s. 23, attempts s. 24 where factual impossibility is no defence and the preparation line is a question of law); defences (self-defence s. 34 and its nine factors, defence of property s. 35, duress s. 17 whose 'immediate'/'present' words were struck in Ruzic but still print, necessity as pure common law, provocation s. 232 as a partial defence narrowed in 2015, mental disorder s. 16 and NCRMD, extreme intoxication s. 33.1 rewritten after Brown); where offences live (assault 265 and why sexual assault 271 has no separate definition, theft 322/334, break and enter 348, fraud 380, mischief 430 incl. computer data); procedure (the s. 493.1 release principle, s. 515 bail and its three grounds, the s. 535 preliminary inquiry narrowed to 14+ years on request, the s.

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.

Class	How you spot it	Consequences
Indictable	"is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to…"	Parts XIV–XXI · no limitation period · jury is the default (s. 471)
Summary	"is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction"	Part XXVII · provincial court, no jury, no prelim · 12-month limitation (s. 786(2))
Hybrid	"indictable … or … punishable on summary conviction"	The Crown elects. The largest modern category.

"Hybrid" appears zero times in the Code — it's structural, not statutory language. ("Punishable on summary conviction" appears 345 times.) And the rule that a hybrid is indictable until the Crown elects summary isn't in the Code either — it's the Interpretation Act, s. 34(1)(a).

Two numbers that recur everywhere

Two years — s. 787 default summary max (two years less a day); s. 743.1 penitentiary vs. provincial jail; s. 742.1 conditional-sentence eligibility.
$5,000 — s. 334 theft · s. 380 fraud · s. 430(3)/(4) mischief · s. 553 absolute provincial-court jurisdiction.

Fast answers

Question	Answer
Is there a limitation period?	Summary: 12 months (s. 786(2)) — and the parties can agree to waive it. Indictable: none.
What's the default summary penalty?	$5,000 fine / two years less a day (s. 787), unless otherwise provided.
Where are the defences?	s. 34 self-defence · s. 35 property · s. 17 duress · s. 16 mental disorder · s. 33.1 extreme intoxication · s. 232 provocation (partial). Necessity is pure common law, preserved by s. 8(3).
Where's sexual assault defined?	It isn't separately — s. 265(2): the assault definition "applies to all forms of assault, including sexual assault." s. 271 is a penalty provision.
Can I choose judge alone on a murder charge?	No — s. 469 + s. 473: judge alone requires the consent of both the accused and the Attorney General.
When do I get a preliminary inquiry?	Only if the offence carries 14 years or more and a party requests one (ss. 535, 536(4)) — narrowed by C-75 in 2019.
Where's the Charter?	Not in the Code. It's Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, and it overrides.
Where's the pardon/record-suspension regime?	Not here — the Criminal Records Act.

Gotchas

Section numbers aren't arithmetic. 320.4 comes after 320.104 — they're dotted identifiers.
The offence and its punishment are usually in different sections (theft 322/334, attempt 24/463, accessory 23/463).
Check s. 2, then the Part's own interpretation section (84, 214, 321, 493, 716…) — local definitions beat general ones.
Offences are codified; defences aren't (ss. 8(3) + 9). That asymmetry is why necessity, entrapment, and officially induced error exist off-page.
A mandatory minimum does more than set a floor — it blocks a discharge (s. 730) and blocks a conditional sentence (s. 742.1(b)).
DNA and SOIRA orders are in Part XV, not the sentencing Part.

[[quebec-legal-system]] — legal aid (indictable and youth matters qualify automatically), the courts, and municipal courts.
[[quebec-charter-rights]] — Quebec's own Charter; note its judicial rights (ss. 23–38) parallel and in places exceed the federal Charter's legal rights.
[[canadian-human-rights-act]] — the federal anti-discrimination statute (unrelated to criminal liability, but the other major federal rights instrument).
[[cryptography]] · [[secure-coding]] — for the technical side of computer-related provisions (e.g. s. 430(1.1) mischief to computer data, Part VI interception).

Sources: Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46, official consolidation at laws-lois.justice.gc.ca — current to 2026-05-26, last amended 2026-03-26 — retrieved 2026-07 and parsed directly (Part ranges measured from the body, not asserted from the TOC). Statutory extraction is solid; the case-law gloss (Ruzic, Brown, Jordan, Grant, Nur, Gladue/Ipeelee, etc.) is general knowledge, not independently verified — treat it as orientation and confirm on CanLII. The Code changes constantly (C-75 2019, C-5 2022, S-12 2023); verify currency.

Last updated: October 13, 2026

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The Criminal Code of Canada (C-46)