Justice to hear informant and witnesses — public prosecutions
507 (1) Subject to subsection 523(1.1), a justice who receives an information laid under section 504 by a peace officer, a public officer, the Attorney General or the Attorney General’s agent, other than an information laid before the justice under section 505, shall, except if an accused has already been arrested with or without a warrant,
(a) hear and consider, ex parte,
(i) the allegations of the informant, and
(ii) the evidence of witnesses, where he considers it desirable or necessary to do so; and
(b) where he considers that a case for so doing is made out, issue, in accordance with this section, either a summons or a warrant for the arrest of the accused to compel the accused to attend before him or some other justice for the same territorial division to answer to a charge of an offence.
Process compulsory
(2) No justice shall refuse to issue a summons or warrant by reason only that the alleged offence is one for which a person may be arrested without warrant.
Procedure when witnesses attend
(3) A justice who hears the evidence of a witness pursuant to subsection (1) shall
(a) take the evidence on oath; and
(b) cause the evidence to be taken in accordance with section 540 in so far as that section is capable of being applied.
Summons to be issued except in certain cases
(4) Where a justice considers that a case is made out for compelling an accused to attend before him to answer to a charge of an offence, he shall issue a summons to the accused unless the allegations of the informant or the evidence of any witness or witnesses taken in accordance with subsection (3) discloses reasonable grounds to believe that it is necessary in the public interest to issue a warrant for the arrest of the accused.
No process in blank
(5) A justice shall not sign a summons or warrant in blank.
Endorsement of warrant by justice
(6) A justice who issues a warrant under this section or section 508, 512, 512.1 or 512.2 may, unless the offence is one listed in section 469, authorize the release of the accused under section 499 by making an endorsement on the warrant in Form 29.
Undertaking or appearance notice deemed confirmed
(7) If, under subsection (6), a justice authorizes the release of an accused under section 499, an appearance notice or undertaking referred to in that section shall be deemed, for the purposes of subsection 145(3) or (4), as the case may be, to have been confirmed by a justice under section 508.
Issue of summons or warrant
(8) Where, on an appeal from or review of any decision or matter of jurisdiction, a new trial or hearing or a continuance or renewal of a trial or hearing is ordered, a justice may issue either a summons or a warrant for the arrest of the accused in order to compel the accused to attend at the new or continued or renewed trial or hearing.
Annotations | French
- Section 507
- A pre-enquete under section 507 is a process whereby a Justice of Peace hears the allegation and the evidence to determine whether there is sufficient information and whether the process of the court should issue to compel the person named in the information to attend before a justice to answer to the offence charged. There is no requirement that the justice who received the information under s. 504 also hear the pre-inquiry under s. 507. Gentles (Re), [1994] OJ No 1409 at para 11 (Ont Ct GD).; R v McHale, 2010 ONCA 361 at para 10, 48.
- The Attorney General and the Attorney General’s agents cannot withdraw an information before the pre-enquete hearing. A Crown Attorney may decide to do so where they decde that it is not in the interests of justice to require the accused to appear in court to answer the charges. They can only do so after the pre-inquiry when the justice has decided that proceedings should be commenced against the person(s) named in the information; McHale v Ontario (Attorney General), 2010 ONCA 361 at paras 44, 77, 89-90.
- If a justice refuses to issue a summons based on the sworn informationthe information remains valid and the informant is permitted to gather more evidence and request a summons from the same or another justice; R v Allen, [1974] OJ No 998 at 448 (Ont CA).