Court Rejects the Defence of Murder-Suicide Pact
It is not for judges to create criminal offences, but rather for the legislature to enact such offences. This has been true since Frey v. Fedoruk , 1950 CanLII 24 (SCC) , [1950] S.C.R. 517, and is a precept which finds statutory recognition in section 9 of the Criminal Code . A person may not be convicted of an offence at common law. [FN1] While the Criminal Code removes criminal liability for common law offences, it maintains the availability of common law defences, except where they are inconsistent with subsequent legislation: see section 8(3), Criminal Code . While some common law defences (eg. defences necessity, duress, and entrapment) are well-understood, other common law defences remain to be discovered. In 1993, the Quebec Court of Appeal recognized the very narrow common law defence of suicide pact . This defence is available only when the parties formed a common and irrevocable intention to commit suicide together, simultaneously by ...