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The Court held that Beaver did not know the character of the substance, and he was acquitted of possession. However, he did represent the substance as a narcotic and therefore was convicted on the charge of selling a narcotic.
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of an element of an offence must be proven to secure a conviction. It has been established that provisions in the Drug Act are criminal law, and that any offence that allows a punishment of prison requires proof of
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Louis Beaver and his brother Max Beaver were arrested selling heroin to an undercover RCMP officer and charged with possession and sale of an illegal narcotic under the
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The Court held that knowledge was required. Cartwright J., writing for the majority stated that it is a fundamental principle of criminal law that the
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requirement in criminal law to prove "possession". The Court held that an offence based on possession, such as possession of a narcotic, requires the
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At trial, the judge instructed the jury by telling them that if they find that they were in possession their actual knowledge was irrelevant.
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In defence, Louis claimed that he thought the package was milk sugar and that they were only trying to defraud the RCMP officer.
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The issue before the
Supreme Court was whether a conviction based on possession requires knowledge of the nature of the object.
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Kerwin C.J., and
Taschereau, Kellock, and Nolan JJ. took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
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A person must know that the substance they possess is a drug to be guilty of possession of that drug.
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to prove that the accused had subjective knowledge of the nature of the object in possession.
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54:Louis Beaver v. Her Majesty the Queen
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166:Fauteux J., joined by Abbott J.
73:Judgment for the Crown in the
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282:Supreme Court of Canada cases
182:is a leading decision of the
16:Supreme Court of Canada case
204:Opium and Narcotic Drug Act
75:Court of Appeal for Ontario
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292:Canadian criminal case law
287:1957 in Canadian case law
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247:Supreme Court of Canada
184:Supreme Court of Canada
85:Appeal allowed in part.
45:Judgment: June 26, 1957
35:Supreme Court of Canada
132:John Robert Cartwright
43:Hearing: May 30, 1957
128:Charles Holland Locke
219:Opinion of the Court
144:Henry Grattan Nolan
179:Beaver v The Queen
22:Beaver v The Queen
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116:Robert Taschereau
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124:Roy Kellock
276:Categories
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198:Background
65:S.C.R. 531
120:Ivan Rand
61:Citations
261:See also
230:mens rea
225:Mens rea
188:mens rea
155:Majority
186:on the
163:Dissent
90:Holding
255:CanLII
82:Ruling
251:LexUM
192:Crown
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