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"The mischief to which the Trading Stamp Act is directed is difficult to discern, and so it's been generally ignored. The section dates from 1905, when a boom in trading stamps triggered concerns that they constituted deceptive sales practices. The Criminal Code, under Section 427, says it is an offence to issue or sell "trading stamps," coupons that can be redeemed for discounted goods. The charges were dropped after he agreed to repay his clients.
ZOMBIE NIGHT TERROR UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES CODE
Section 451 of the Criminal Code therefore made it an offence, punishable with up to five years in jail, for anyone to have in their possession gold or silver clippings or to have engaged in "lightening a current gold or silver coin."Īccording to Section 365, it is illegal to pretend to exercise "any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment or conjuration." The charge was used in 2012 against a Mississauga man, Gustavo Valencia Gomez, who was also charged with fraud, false pretenses and possession of the proceeds of crime because he allegedly advertised his services as a faith healer. The shavings could be collected, diluted with base metals and melted into counterfeit currency. It involved trimming bits off gold or silver coin. The subsections are "a Canadian relic," he writes.īefore modern coins became minted with sturdier alloys of nickel, copper or steel, coin clipping was a more common crime. In his book about outdated laws, Under Arrest: Canadian Laws You Won't Believe, Toronto lawyer Bob Tarantino notes that the Code only prohibits the advertising, not the use of such drugs.
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They present in coloured pictures the commission of crimes of violence, showing every possible detail."Īnyone who has seen an ad for Viagra or Cialis would be surprised to know that the Code's subsection 163 (2) (d), outlaws the advertising of drugs that are "a method for restoring sexual virility or curing venereal diseases." "That is exactly what these crime comics do. "The easiest way to impress a lesson upon a juvenile mind is by illustration," he said.
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Fulton told the Commons that violent comic books had influenced young people in a spate of crimes, including a murder in Dawson Creek involving two boys, aged 11 and 13. That provision is a legacy of a 1948 private bill by British Columbia MP Davie Fulton who later became justice minister under John Diefenbaker. Section 163 (1) (b) bans the publishing, distribution or sale of any comics that show people committing crimes.
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