A History of Canadian Sexual Assault Legislation
1900-2000

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Corroboration

The Criminal Code, 1892, S.C. 1892, c. 29, s. 684.

[When evidence of one witness must be corroborated.]
684. No person accused of an offence under any of the hereunder mentioned sections shall be convicted upon the evidence of one witness, unless such witness is corroborated in some material particular by evidence implicating the accused:
    [...]
    (c) Offences under Part XII., sections one hundred and eighty-one to one hundred and ninety inclusive;
    [...].

An Act to amend the Criminal Code, 1892, S.C. 1893, c. 32, s. 1.

[When evidence of one witness must be corroborated.]
684. No person accused of an offence under any of the hereunder mentioned sections shall be convicted upon the evidence of one witness, unless such witness is corroborated in some material particular by evidence implicating the accused:
    [...]
    (c) Offences under Part XIII., sections one hundred and eighty-one to one hundred and ninety inclusive;
    [...].

Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1906, c. 146, s. 1002.

[Necessary in certain cases.]
1002. No person accused of any offence under any of the hereunder mentioned sections shall be convicted upon the evidence of one witness, unless such witness is corroborated in some material particular by evidence implicating the accused:—
    [...]
    (c) Offences under Part V., sections two hundred and eleven to two hundred and twenty inclusive;
    [...] 55-56 V., c. 29, s. 684; 56 V., c. 32, s. 1.

An Act to amend the Criminal Code, S.C. 1925, c. 38, s. 26.

[Necessary in certain cases.]
1002. No person accused of an offence under any of the hereunder mentioned sections shall be convicted upon the evidence of one witness, unless such witness is corroborated in some material particular by evidence implicating the accused:—
    [...]
    (c) Offences under Part V, sections two hundred and eleven to two hundred and twenty inclusive;
    [...] 55-56 V., c. 29, s. 684; 56 V., c. 32, s. 1.

Note: most of the changes affected only the parts of the above section that were not relevant to sexual offences and therefore not included; only minor changes were made to the relevant portion of the section above.

Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1927, c. 36, s. 1002.

[Corroboration necessary in certain cases.]
1002. No person accused of an offence under any of the hereunder mentioned sections shall be convicted upon the evidence of one witness, unless such witness is corroborated in some material particular by evidence implicating the accused:—
    [...]
    (c) Offences under Part V, sections two hundred and eleven to two hundred and twenty inclusive, except subsections two to five inclusive of section two hundred and fifteen;
    (d) Offences under Part VI, section three hundred and one and subsection two of section three hundred and nine; [...] 1925, c. 38, s. 26.

Note: "Corroboration necessary in certain cases" did not appear as an individual section in the Criminal Code, S.C. 1953-54, c. 51. However, it was placed under "Special Provisions" along with "Marriage a defence," "Burden of proof," and "Previous sexual intercourse with accused."
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