Canadian Criminal Evidence/Admissions of Fact

General Principles
Factual admissions are made under section 655.

Though the language refers to indictable offences, it is accepted that this applies to summary convictions as well under s. 795.

When a factual admission is made pursuant to s. 655 it is for the Crown to state the facts. It is not open to the accused to frame the Crown's allegations so as to conform to his own purpose and then insist on the Crown admitting.

Formal admissions cannot be made until there has been an allegation put against them.

A factual admission can be made by counsel in court. Counsel can state for example that: “I admit that the accused did X. I admit that when he did that act, he knew Y. I admit that at that time, the accused thought or intended Z.”

This form of admission is “proper and sufficient” for findings of fact by the court under s. 655 and remove the need to adduce evidence on those issues.

If the accused makes an admission of fact, the Crown should not be allowed to refuse to accept it and then lead evidence on the issue. Once admitted, it is no long an admission at trial.

Similarly, if the Crown and Defence put forward evidence by submission that constitutes an agreed statement of facts, then it should be accepted by the trial judge as “conclusive of the admitted facts".

An agreed statement of fact should be "clear, unambiguous, precise and unequivocal before acceptance by the court".