Month: December 2024

Patrick Ducharme

Continued from part 1

The owner is entitled to make application for the return of the property.1 Section 490 of the Code does not, however, provides specifically for the return of money seized. The proper procedure for obtaining an order for return of monies is an application for replevin. The onus is upon the Crown to establish that the monies, previously in the possession of the applicant, then seized by the police, were tainted by criminality.2 Section 490, while purporting to provide a complete scheme for dealing with property seized in connection with crime, does not deal with seizures of money that fail to comply with the requirement of reasonable grounds. Consequently, a provincial court Judge has no power to order money returned for an unlawful seizure.3

The above is the an excerpt of Patrick J Ducharme’s book, Canadian Criminal Procedure, available at Amazon or in bulk through MedicaLegal Publishing along with Criminal Trial Strategies.

Subscribe to Patrick Ducharme’s Youtube Channel

Patrick J Ducharme

Pursuant to section 489.1 items seized are brought before a Justice or a report in respect of anything seized is made to the Justice. Where the lawful owner entitled to possession of the things seized is known the Justice shall return the things seized to the lawful owner unless the Justice is satisfied that the detention of the things seized is required for the purposes of any investigation or a preliminary inquiry, trial or other proceeding.1 Nothing should be detained for a period of more than three months after the day of seizure, unless the Justice, on summary application to him, after three days notice to the person from whom the thing was seized, is satisfied that, having regard to the nature of the investigation, its further detention for a specified period is warranted and the Justice so orders.

Continued in part 2

The above is the an excerpt of Patrick J Ducharme’s book, Canadian Criminal Procedure, available at Amazon or in bulk through MedicaLegal Publishing along with Criminal Trial Strategies.

Subscribe to Patrick Ducharme’s Youtube Channel