Voir dire

A voir dire is often described as a trial within a trial: a hearing held during proceedings to resolve a preliminary legal question, most commonly whether a piece of evidence is admissible. In a jury trial the voir dire takes place in the jury's absence so jurors never learn of evidence that may be excluded; in judge-alone trials the judge holds the voir dire and disregards inadmissible material.

Common subjects of voir dires include the voluntariness of an accused's statement to police, applications to exclude evidence for Charter breaches under R. v. Grant, 2009 SCC 32, expert evidence admissibility, and applications concerning a complainant's prior sexual history. Evidence heard on a voir dire does not become part of the trial record unless the parties agree or the court so orders, and rulings from voir dires are a rich body of case law for admissibility research.