Criminal Code

Marginal note:Powers of justice

• 537 (1) A justice acting under this Part may

  • (a) adjourn an inquiry from time to time and change the place of hearing, where it appears to be desirable to do so by reason of the absence of a witness, the inability of a witness who is ill to attend at the place where the justice usually sits or for any other sufficient reason;

  • (b) remand the accused to custody for the purposes of the Identification of Criminals Act;

  • (c) except where the accused is authorized pursuant to Part XVI to be at large, remand the accused to custody in a prison by warrant in Form 19;

  • (d) resume an inquiry before the expiration of a period for which it has been adjourned with the consent of the prosecutor and the accused or his counsel;

  • (e) order in writing, in Form 30, that the accused be brought before him, or any other justice for the same territorial division, at any time before the expiration of the time for which the accused has been remanded;

  • (f) grant or refuse permission to the prosecutor or his counsel to address him in support of the charge, by way of opening or summing up or by way of reply on any evidence that is given on behalf of the accused;

  • (g) receive evidence on the part of the prosecutor or the accused, as the case may be, after hearing any evidence that has been given on behalf of either of them;

  • (h) order that no person other than the prosecutor, the accused and their counsel shall have access to or remain in the room in which the inquiry is held, where it appears to him that the ends of justice will be best served by so doing;

  • (i) regulate the course of the inquiry in any way that appears to the justice to be desirable, including to promote a fair and expeditious inquiry, that is consistent with this Act and that, unless the justice is satisfied that to do so would be contrary to the best interests of the administration of justice, is in accordance with any admission of fact or agreement recorded under subsection 536.4(2) or agreement made under section 536.5;

  • (j) if the prosecutor and the accused consent, allow the accused to appear by counsel for any part of the inquiry, other than a part in which the evidence of a witness is taken; and

  • (j.1) permit, on the request of the accused, that the accused be out of court during the whole or any part of the inquiry on any conditions that the justice considers appropriate.

  • (k) [Repealed, 2022, c. 17, s. 35]

• Marginal note:Power provided under paragraph (1)(i)

  (1.01) For the purpose of paragraph (1)(i), the justice may, among other things, limit the scope of the preliminary inquiry to specific issues and limit the witnesses to be heard on these issues.

• Marginal note:Section 715 or 715.01

  (1.02) If a justice grants a request under paragraph (1)(j.1), the Court must inform the accused that the evidence taken during their absence could still be admissible under section 715 or 715.01.

• Marginal note:Inappropriate questioning

  (1.1) A justice acting under this Part shall order the immediate cessation of any part of an examination or cross-examination of a witness that is, in the opinion of the justice, abusive, too repetitive or otherwise inappropriate.

• Marginal note:Change of venue

  (2) Where a justice changes the place of hearing under paragraph (1)(a) to a place in the same province, other than a place in a territorial division in which the justice has jurisdiction, any justice who has jurisdiction in the place to which the hearing is changed may continue the hearing.

• (3) and (4) [Repealed, 1991, c. 43, s. 9]