Law360 Canada ( November 1, 2024, 2:12 PM EDT) -- Appeal by the Crown from a judgment of the Quebec Court of Appeal which set aside judgments from the Superior Court of Quebec. Respondents were charged with indictable offences that carried maximum sentences of 14 years of imprisonment. Those offences had been punishable by a maximum of ten years at the time they were allegedly committed, entitling the respondents to a preliminary inquiry. Both respondents requested a preliminary inquiry but after the amendment of s. 535 of the Criminal Code (Code) which came into force on September 19, 2019. Before the amendment, a person was entitled to a preliminary inquiry if they were charged with an indictable offence punishable on conviction by a maximum sentence of ten years or more. Following the amendment, preliminary inquiries were only available to offences punishable by fourteen years or more. The requests were denied in the Court of Québec for lack of jurisdiction and the Superior Court refused judicial review in each case. The Court of Appeal concluded that the entitlement to a preliminary inquiry was determined with reference to the state of the law at the date of the commission of the alleged offence and that the entitlement was vested or accrued at the date of the first appearance. The appeals were allowed and both cases were remitted to the Court of Québec for a preliminary inquiry. The Crown argued that the Court of Appeal erred in finding that the right to a preliminary inquiry was governed by the law in force at the time the offence with which an accused was charged was committed. The respondents agreed with the Court of Appeal’s conclusion....