Abstract
Since their adoption in 1892, the insanity laws in the Criminal Code of Canada have utilized a modified M'Naughton rule. The Department of Justice began work in the 1970s to update these laws. In 1983, soon after the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was proclaimed, the case of Regina v. Swain provided the impetus for this change. In 1990 the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the old law, giving parliament a specific time to pass new legislation. Bill C-30 modernized the language of the Criminal Code and introduced a number of procedural safeguards to protect the rights of the accused.
