Sovereignty, Restraint, and Guidance

"This book focuses on substantive Canadian criminal law - that which concerns offences, defences, and incapacity. Judges and courts, as they construe criminal offences, are engaged first and foremost in an exercise of statutory interpretation with a presumption of restraint. Courts and judges have approached offence elements relating to voluntariness and fault, defences, and claims of incapacity with the tacit understanding that Parliament's central aim in crafting criminal offences is not simply to set out the conditions under which legal officials are authorized to administer punishment, but to guide ordinary citizens as they decide how to act on a day-to-day basis. "--