This book sets out and examines the law governing criminal procedure in Canada. It explains the body of rules and principles that govern the investigation, prosecution, and adjudication of any offence enacted by Parliament for which an accused person would have a criminal record if found guilty by a court exercising jurisdiction under the Criminal Code. These include such things as the rules by which police powers are exercised, the right to counsel, search warrants, interim release, and procuring attendance of witnesses.

This third edition updates the law in all areas of criminal procedure. The chapter on powers of search and seizure has been completely rewritten to take into account significant new decisions, including, among others, Spencer, on internet anonymity; Vu, on searches of computers; TELUS Communications, on text messaging and wiretap authorizations; MacDonald, on safety searches; and Fearon, on search of cell phones incident to arrest. It also covers the various statutory changes made to search powers by the Protecting Canadians from Online Crime Act.

Steve Coughlan is a professor of law and the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University in Halifax. He received an LL.B. from Dalhousie Law School and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Toronto, both in 1985. He has practised law with the Metro Community Law Clinic and with the Dalhousie Legal Aid Service, and also worked with the criminal procedure project of the Law Reform Commission of Canada. Having worked at Dalhousie Law School in a variety of capacities, he was appointed to a tenure-track position in 2000, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2001, and became a full Professor in 2004. His areas of teaching have included criminal law and procedure, constitutional law, health law, and appellate advocacy. His students have won many prizes at competitive moots, including first place overall in the Commonwealth Law Moot. Professor Coughlan has received teaching awards at the faculty, university, and regional levels, including the Dalhousie Law School Teaching Excellence Award, the Hannah and Harold Barnett Award for Excellence in Teaching First Year Law, the Dalhousie University Alumni Association Award of Excellence for Teaching, and the Association of Atlantic Universities Distinguished Teacher Award.

  Professor Coughlan is the author of Detention and Arrest (with Glen Luther, Irwin Law, 2010) and Criminal Procedure, 2d ed. (Irwin Law, 2012). He is an editor of the Criminal Reports and an author of the National Judicial Institute Criminal Law e-Letter. He is also a co-author of the Carswell Annual Review of Criminal Law and of Learning Canadian Criminal Law (as of the 10th ed.). In addition, he is a member of the Law and Technology Institute at the Schulich School of Law and is one of the authors of the Canadian IT Law Association’s newsletter on law and technology issues. The majority of his more than 150 articles, annotations, chapters, reports, and books have been in the criminal law field, but he has also published in other fields, including health law (particularly with regard to issues of elder abuse) and the future of the legal profession.

Steve Coughlan's profile page