Criminal Code

Marginal note:Special pleas

• 607 (1) An accused may plead the special pleas of

  • (a) autrefois acquit;

  • (b) autrefois convict;

  • (c) pardon; and

  • (d) an expungement order under the Expungement of Historically Unjust Convictions Act.

• Marginal note:In case of libel

  (2) An accused who is charged with defamatory libel may plead in accordance with sections 611 and 612.

• Marginal note:Disposal

  (3) The pleas of autrefois acquit, autrefois convict, pardon and an expungement order under the Expungement of Historically Unjust Convictions Act shall be disposed of by the judge without a jury before the accused is called on to plead further.

• Marginal note:Pleading over

  (4) When the pleas referred to in subsection (3) are disposed of against the accused, he may plead guilty or not guilty.

• Marginal note:Statement sufficient

  (5) Where an accused pleads autrefois acquit or autrefois convict, it is sufficient if he

  • (a) states that he has been lawfully acquitted, convicted or discharged under subsection 730(1), as the case may be, of the offence charged in the count to which the plea relates; and

  • (b) indicates the time and place of the acquittal, conviction or discharge under subsection 730(1).

• Marginal note:Exception — foreign trials in absentia

  (6) A person who is alleged to have committed an act or omission outside Canada that is an offence in Canada by virtue of any of subsections 7(2) to (3.1) or (3.7), or an offence under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, and in respect of which the person has been tried and convicted outside Canada, may not plead autrefois convict with respect to a count that charges that offence if

  • (a) at the trial outside Canada the person was not present and was not represented by counsel acting under the person’s instructions, and

  • (b) the person was not punished in accordance with the sentence imposed on conviction in respect of the act or omission,

  notwithstanding that the person is deemed by virtue of subsection 7(6), or subsection 12(1) of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, as the case may be, to have been tried and convicted in Canada in respect of the act or omission.