Talk:Criminal Code of Canada

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[edit] Consolidation of past law

The Criminal Code can only be said to consolidate the law if earlier law need no longer be consulted. Section 9 ("Criminal offences to be under law of Canada") appears to eliminate all offences arising from English law, but begins "Notwithstanding anything in this Act or any other Act". If "notwithstanding" is taken literally, then those English Acts are not withstood and still apply. On the other hand, if it means that the English Acts do not withstand section 9, then this section seems to make subsection 8(2) ("Application of criminal law of England") inoperative. Clarification?

The best sense I can make of it, taking the second interpretation of "notwithstanding", is that the offences are eliminated, but not necessarily other aspects of the Acts. Similarly, common law defences are retained by subsection 8(3).

I used to be confused with the meaning of "notwithstanding" in the exact same way. I always thought it meant that it "could not withstand..." I know now that "notwithstanding" is basically a synonym for "despite" or "irrespective of". Thus, s. 8 means that all English Acts that create criminal offences are eliminated. -PullUpYourSocks 23:14, 30 March 2007 (UTC)