Criminal court terminology

Court words,
explained.

Disclosure, factum, recognizance, judicial pre-trial. Courtrooms run on words nobody uses anywhere else, and having them explained once makes the whole process easier to follow. Here are the ones you are most likely to hear, each in plain language.

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159 terms · A to Z

A

Absolute discharge

A finding of guilt where the judge decides no conviction should be registered and imposes no penalty or conditions. You end up with no criminal record. Criminal Code s. 730.

Accusation

A claim that someone committed an offence. It is not evidence and it is not proof.

Accused person

The person charged with an offence. Also called the accused, or the defendant.

Acquittal

A finding of not guilty at the end of a trial. The accused leaves without conditions and the charge is over.

Act

A law passed by Parliament or a provincial legislature. Also called a statute, or legislation.

Actus reus

Latin for the guilty act — the conduct, or the failure to act, that makes up the physical part of an offence. The Crown must prove it alongside mens rea, the mental part.

Adjournment

Putting a court date over to another day. It can happen because disclosure is outstanding, because you are getting a lawyer, because a witness is unavailable, or to prepare for trial. The presiding justice decides whether to grant one.

Admissible evidence

Evidence the judge allows the court to consider. Relevant evidence can still be ruled inadmissible — because it was obtained in breach of the Charter, or because a rule such as the one against hearsay excludes it.

Affidavit

A written statement of facts you swear or affirm to be true. Depending on the document, a lawyer, notary public or commissioner of oaths has to witness your signature.

Affirm

Promising to tell the truth without swearing on anything religious. It carries exactly the same weight as an oath, and lying after affirming is still perjury.

Allegation

An assertion that something happened, which has not been proven. An allegation may come from a complainant, a witness, the police or the Crown. Nothing about it is established until it is proven in court.

Alternative measures

Programs that resolve a charge without a prosecution, for an adult who accepts responsibility. The adult equivalent of extrajudicial measures, and usually called diversion.

Amicus

Short for amicus curiae, Latin for friend of the court. A lawyer appointed to assist the court as an impartial advisor rather than to represent either side.

Appeal

A review by a higher court of whether the trial was correctly decided and fairly conducted. Most appeals argue the trial judge made a mistake in applying the law to the facts. An appeal can be brought against a conviction or a sentence.

Appearance

Attending court on your case, in front of a judge or justice of the peace.

Appearance notice

A document the police give you instead of holding you for bail, telling you which court to attend and when. Not showing up is itself an offence.

Appellant

The party bringing an appeal.

Applicant

The party who brings an application.

Application

A request asking the court to order something, usually decided before trial — for example an application for further disclosure, or to exclude evidence under the Charter.

Arraignment

The step where the charge is read out formally and the accused says whether they plead guilty or not guilty.

Arrest

When the police take a person into custody to charge them with a criminal offence. Not everyone charged is arrested — depending on the circumstances the police may instead issue an appearance notice.

Arrest warrant

A judicial order authorising the police to arrest a named person.

B

Bail

A release order letting a person go while their case is outstanding, usually on conditions and with a date to return to court. The formal name is judicial interim release.

Bail hearing

A court hearing to decide whether an accused person should be held in custody until their case is resolved or tried.

Bench warrant

A warrant a judge issues from the bench when an accused fails to attend court. A discretionary bench warrant is held for a short period so the person can come in and surrender rather than be arrested.

Beyond a reasonable doubt

The standard the Crown has to meet to convict. It is much closer to absolute certainty than to a balance of probabilities: if the judge or jury is left with a doubt based on reason and common sense, the accused must be acquitted.

Breach

Failing to follow a condition of your bail, probation or a peace bond. A breach is a separate criminal offence on top of the charge you already have.

Burden of proof

Whose job it is to prove something, and to what standard. Also called the onus. In a criminal trial it rests on the Crown throughout, and the standard is beyond a reasonable doubt.

C

Case law

The law as worked out in decided cases. Judges are bound by decisions of higher courts in their own province and by the Supreme Court of Canada.

CDSA

The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act — the federal statute that creates most drug offences.

Charge

The specific offence a person is alleged to have committed.

Charter

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It sets the limits on what police and the state may do, and a breach of it can lead to evidence being excluded or a charge stayed.

Closing argument

Each side's final submissions after the evidence is finished, arguing what the evidence does and does not establish.

Committal

The order at the end of a preliminary hearing sending the accused to stand trial in the Superior Court of Justice.

Complainant

The person alleged to have been harmed by the offence. Using this word rather than “victim” matters before a case is proven.

Concurrent sentence

Sentences for more than one offence served at the same time, so the total is the length of the longest one.

Conditional discharge

A finding of guilt with no conviction registered, provided you complete a period of probation. Finish it and you have no criminal record. Criminal Code s. 730.

Conditional sentence

A jail sentence served in the community rather than in custody, on strict conditions that usually include house arrest. In Ontario it is supervised by a probation officer. Breaching it can mean serving the rest in jail.

Consecutive sentence

Sentences for more than one offence served one after the other, so they add up.

Conviction

The formal recording of guilt after a guilty plea or a finding of guilt, where the judge does not grant a discharge. A conviction is what creates a criminal record.

Court docket

The list of cases scheduled to be heard in a courtroom on a given day.

Court order

A direction made by a judge or justice that has legal force. Breaching one is usually an offence in itself.

Court reporter

The person who records what is said in court, from which transcripts are produced.

CPIC

The Canadian Police Information Centre, a database run by the RCMP and accessible to police across Canada. It holds charges, convictions, cautions and, in some cases, fingerprints.

Criminal Code

The federal statute that defines most criminal offences, the available sentences, and the procedure a criminal case follows.

Criminal offence

Conduct made punishable by criminal law. The harm is treated as against the public, which is why it is the Crown and not the complainant who prosecutes.

Criminal record

The record of a person's convictions and sentences, held on police databases and visible on a record check. A discharge does not create one.

Cross-examination

Questioning a witness called by the other side. It is where most of the work of testing evidence gets done.

Crown

The prosecutor. Crown counsel are lawyers for the public interest, not for the police and not for the complainant, and they carry a duty to be fair as well as to prosecute.

Custodial sentence

A sentence served in jail.

D

Defence counsel

The lawyer representing the accused.

Defendant

Another word for the accused.

Detention order

An order that an accused be held in custody until the case is resolved, made when bail is denied.

Direct examination

Questioning a witness you called yourself. Usually you cannot ask leading questions.

Discharge

A finding of guilt where no conviction is registered, so no criminal record results. It is either absolute, with nothing further required, or conditional on completing probation.

Disclosure

The evidence the police gathered, which the Crown must hand over so the accused can answer the charge. It covers everything relevant, including material that helps the defence and material the Crown does not intend to use. Reviewing it is the foundation of defending a charge.

Dismiss

To reject an application or a charge in court.

Diversion

A way of resolving a case without a criminal record. The accused takes responsibility and completes something constructive — community service, a donation, counselling — and the charge is then usually withdrawn.

Duty counsel

A lawyer funded by Legal Aid Ontario available at the courthouse to give free advice and assistance at early appearances and bail hearings. Duty counsel does not run your trial.

E

Election

A choice about how a case is tried. On most indictable offences the accused elects trial in the Ontario Court of Justice, or in the Superior Court of Justice by judge alone or by judge and jury. The Crown also elects, on hybrid offences, whether to proceed summarily or by indictment.

Essential elements

The specific components of an offence the Crown has to prove. Fail to prove any one of them and the charge fails, however strong the rest of the case looks.

Evidence

What the court is allowed to consider in deciding the case — testimony, documents, recordings, objects. What a lawyer says is not evidence.

Exhibit

A document or object formally accepted as evidence and given a number so it can be referred to for the rest of the case.

Ex parte order

An order made on the request of one party without the other being notified or heard, normally only for something temporary or urgent.

Expert witness

A witness qualified by the court to give opinion evidence within a defined field, such as toxicology or accident reconstruction.

Extrajudicial measures

Ways of dealing with a young person accused of an offence without going through a prosecution, such as a warning, a caution or a referral to a program. Youth Criminal Justice Act, Part 1.

F

Factum

A written argument filed with the court setting out the facts and the legal points a party intends to rely on.

Failure to appear

Not showing up for a required court date. It is a separate offence and usually results in a warrant.

Fine

A sum of money ordered as a sentence. A fine still means a conviction and a record unless a discharge is granted.

First appearance

The first time the case is spoken to in court. It is not a trial, nothing is decided, and its purpose is to get disclosure and set next steps.

Forensic evidence

Evidence produced by scientific analysis — DNA, fingerprints, toxicology, digital forensics.

G

Guilty plea

An admission of responsibility for the offence. There is no trial, and the complainant and witnesses do not have to testify. A sentencing hearing follows.

H

Hearing

Any proceeding before a judge or justice at which a matter is argued and decided.

Hearsay

Evidence of what someone said outside court, offered to prove that what they said was true. It is presumptively inadmissible, subject to well-defined exceptions.

Hybrid offence

An offence the Crown can prosecute either summarily or by indictment — the choice is the Crown's election. Most Criminal Code offences are hybrid, and until the Crown elects a hybrid offence counts as indictable for several purposes.

I

In camera

A hearing, or part of one, closed to the public and the press.

Indictable offence

The more serious route of prosecution, carrying higher maximum penalties and giving the accused more procedural rights, including in many cases an election as to court and mode of trial and, for some offences, a preliminary inquiry. The third and largest category is hybrid offences, where the Crown chooses.

Information

The formal document sworn by an officer that sets out the charges and starts a prosecution in the Ontario Court of Justice.

Innocent until proven guilty

The presumption that applies to everyone charged. The burden never shifts: you are not asked to prove your innocence, and a reasonable doubt means an acquittal.

Intermittent sentence

A jail sentence of 90 days or less served in blocks, typically on weekends, so the person can keep working. It comes with a probation order covering the time in between.

J

Judge

The judicial officer who decides questions of law, and in a non-jury trial the facts and the verdict as well.

Judicial interim release

The formal name for bail — release while the case is outstanding, usually on conditions.

Judicial pre-trial

An off-the-record meeting between the Crown, defence counsel and a judge. The accused does not attend. The parties discuss the issues, the likely length of trial and whether the case can resolve. A judge's view is not binding.

Judicial stay of proceedings

A judge stopping the prosecution, usually as a Charter remedy for delay or abuse of process. It ends the case. It is rare.

Jurisdiction

The authority of a particular court to deal with a particular matter.

Justice of the peace

A judicial officer in the Ontario Court of Justice who presides over bail hearings, receives informations, issues warrants and hears provincial offences. Often shortened to JP.

L

Leading question

A question that suggests its own answer. Generally not allowed when questioning your own witness, and the normal method in cross-examination.

Leave of the court

The court's permission, required before certain steps can be taken.

M

Material fact

A fact that actually matters to deciding the issue before the court.

Mens rea

Latin for the guilty mind — the intent, knowledge or recklessness the Crown has to prove alongside the physical act.

Mistrial

A trial ended before a verdict because something has gone fundamentally wrong with the process, or because a jury cannot reach a verdict. The case can usually be tried again.

N

Non-custodial sentence

A sentence served outside jail — for example a fine, a discharge, or probation in the community.

Not guilty

The plea entered by an accused who does not admit the offence, and the verdict where the Crown has failed to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.

O

Oath

A promise to tell the truth sworn on a holy book or symbol. Affirming instead has the same legal effect.

Objection

A lawyer's formal challenge to a question or to evidence, for the judge to rule on.

Opinion evidence

Evidence of what a witness believes rather than what they observed. An ordinary witness generally cannot give it; a properly qualified expert can, within their expertise.

P

Pardon

The former name for what is now a record suspension. It did not erase a conviction; it set the record aside so it no longer turns up on an ordinary check.

Parole

Supervised release of an offender part-way through a custodial sentence, on conditions. Parole decisions are made by a parole board, not by the sentencing judge.

Parole Board

The body that decides parole and record suspensions. Federal sentences go to the Parole Board of Canada; Ontario has its own board for provincial sentences.

Peace bond

An order under Criminal Code s. 810 requiring a person to keep the peace and follow conditions, often no contact with a named person. It is not a conviction and not a criminal record — the person agrees only that the other party has reasonable grounds to fear.

Penitentiary

A federal prison, where sentences of two years or more are served. Sentences under two years are served in a provincial institution.

Perjury

Lying under oath or affirmation. It is an offence in its own right.

Plea

The accused's answer to the charge — guilty or not guilty.

PPSC

The Public Prosecution Service of Canada, which prosecutes federal offences such as drug charges under the CDSA.

Precedent

A decided case that guides later ones. Judges must follow binding precedent from higher courts in their province and from the Supreme Court of Canada.

Preliminary hearing

A hearing to test whether the Crown has enough evidence to send the case to trial, which also lets the defence hear the case first-hand. Since 2019 it is available only where the offence carries a maximum of 14 years or more, and only if the Crown or the accused asks for one.

Pre-sentence report

A report prepared by a probation officer about an offender's background and circumstances, to help the judge decide the sentence.

Pre-trial conference

A meeting with a judge to work out what is needed before trial and whether the case can resolve.

Pre-trial meeting

An informal discussion between the Crown and defence counsel, usually by phone, about disclosure, trial length and whether the charge might resolve. The accused does not attend unless unrepresented.

Privilege

Protection that keeps certain communications out of evidence. Solicitor-client privilege covers what you tell your lawyer in confidence, and it is close to absolute.

Probation

A court order requiring an offender to follow conditions in the community for a set period, supervised by a probation officer. It is meant to rehabilitate rather than punish.

Probation officer

The officer who supervises people on probation and prepares pre-sentence reports.

Promise to appear

A document signed on release from a police station undertaking to attend court on a set date. Since 2019 these police release forms are generally called undertakings.

Prosecute

To bring and carry on a criminal charge against someone.

Prosecution

The bringing and conduct of a criminal charge, and collectively the Crown side of a case.

Prosecutor

The lawyer who presents the case against the accused on behalf of the public. Also called the Crown or Crown Attorney.

Publication ban

A court order restricting what may be published about a case — commonly the identity of a complainant or young person, or evidence heard at a bail hearing or preliminary hearing. Breaching one is an offence.

R

Recognizance

The bail document. A person released after a bail hearing is bound by a recognizance setting out the conditions they must follow.

Record suspension

An order setting a criminal record aside so it does not appear on an ordinary police check. It does not erase the conviction and it can be revoked. Record suspensions replaced pardons.

Re-examination

Brief further questioning of your own witness after cross-examination, limited to matters that came up in the cross.

Release order

The order setting the conditions on which an accused is released pending trial. It replaced the older recognizance forms in 2019.

Remand

Being held in custody until the next court date. Remand also means adjourning a case to another date.

Restitution

An order that an offender repay a complainant for financial loss caused by the offence — damaged property or lost wages, for example.

Restorative justice

An approach where the person responsible, the person harmed and the community work out how to repair the harm, instead of or alongside an ordinary sentence.

Retainer agreement

The contract setting out the cost and terms of hiring a lawyer, usually signed at the outset.

Retaining counsel

Hiring a lawyer to represent you, on an agreed fee and payment schedule.

Reverse onus

The situation at a bail hearing where the burden shifts to the accused to show why they should be released, rather than on the Crown to show why they should be held. It applies to certain offences and where the alleged offence happened while already on release.

Rowbotham application

An application asking a judge to stay proceedings unless the state funds counsel, for an accused who cannot afford a lawyer, has been refused legal aid, and cannot have a fair trial without one.

S

Search warrant

A judicial authorisation to search a specified place for specified things within a fixed period. Searching a home without one is presumptively unreasonable.

Self-represented litigant

Someone conducting their own case without a lawyer.

Sentence

The consequence imposed after a conviction — a discharge, fine, probation, conditional sentence or jail, alone or in combination.

Sentencing circle

A sentencing process drawing on Indigenous tradition, in which the offender, the person harmed, families, Elders, community members, counsel and the judge seek consensus on a sentence to recommend. The judge still imposes the sentence.

Sentencing hearing

The hearing where the sentence is decided. The Crown reads in the facts; if the accused accepts them the judge enters a finding of guilt. Both sides then make submissions and the judge decides.

Show cause hearing

The formal name for a bail hearing — the party with the onus must show cause why the accused should be detained, or released.

Statutory release

Release required by law for the final third of a federal sentence, served in the community under supervision and conditions.

Stay of proceedings

The Crown stopping a prosecution. It is not an acquittal — the charge can generally be revived within one year. A judicial stay, by contrast, ends the case for good.

Subpoena

A court order requiring a person to attend and give evidence, and sometimes to bring documents. Ignoring one properly served can lead to a warrant.

Summary conviction offence

The less serious route of prosecution. The general maximum under Criminal Code s. 787 is a $5,000 fine and two years less a day, though individual offences set their own maximums.

Summons

A document requiring a person to attend court on a criminal charge, served on them rather than issued on arrest.

Superior Court of Justice

Ontario's superior trial court. It hears the most serious indictable matters, jury trials, bail reviews and appeals from summary conviction cases.

Surety

A person who supervises an accused on bail and pledges money as a guarantee that they will attend court and follow their conditions. Failing to supervise properly can mean losing the money pledged.

Suspect

Someone the police believe may have committed an offence. A suspect has not been charged, and has the same right to silence as anyone else.

Sworn in

Having taken an oath or made an affirmation to tell the truth before testifying.

T

Testify

To give evidence in court under oath or affirmation.

Trial

The hearing that determines whether a person is guilty of the offence alleged. The Crown calls its evidence and must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

U

Undertaking

A release form given by the police to someone awaiting court, imposing conditions without a bail hearing. The conditions police may impose are limited.

V

Verdict

The decision on whether the charge is proven — guilty or not guilty.

Victim

The person harmed by an offence. Before a case is proven the correct word is complainant.

Victim impact statement

A written or spoken statement describing how the offence affected the person harmed and their family. The judge must consider it when sentencing.

Voir dire

A hearing within a trial to decide a legal question, most often whether a piece of evidence or a statement to police is admissible.

W

Warrant

A judicial order authorising the police to do something they otherwise could not — arrest a person, or search a place.

Withdrawal

The Crown dropping a charge outright. Unlike a stay, it is not revived.

Witness

A person who gives evidence. Being a witness is not a choice once you are subpoenaed.

Y

Young person

Someone aged 12 to 17 at the time of the offence, dealt with under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Youth court

The court that deals with criminal charges against a young person under 18.

Youth Criminal Justice Act

The federal statute governing how people aged 12 to 17 are prosecuted and sentenced. Often shortened to YCJA. It replaced the Young Offenders Act, so the older label “young offender” is out of date.

Also on this site

Questions people ask when they have been charged

What happens at a first appearance, when the police need a warrant, how bail conditions get changed, what a lawyer costs. All of it answered plainly.

The definition is the easy part.

Knowing what disclosure, a surety or a judicial pre-trial is does not tell you what it means in your case. That depends on the charge, which court you are in, and what the Crown is asking for.

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