Supreme Court Trials
The Supreme Court is one of the largest and busiest trial courts in the world. Its role amongst Canada is deciding legal issues of public importance, thereby contributing to the development of all branches of law applicable within Canada. The Supreme Court of Canada is an important national institution that is positioned at the pinnacle of the judicial branch of Canada’s government.
Role of the Supreme Court of Canada
The Role of Canada’s Supreme Court is that it is Canada’s final court of appeal. The Court hears appeals from decisions of the highest courts amongst provinces and territories (i.e. the Court of Appeal of Ontario). It’s a final resort. The court is composed of 9 judges, one of whom being the Chief Justice of Canada. In order to be one of these judges, one must be appointed by the Governor in Council, they must have previously been a judge of a superior court or a ten-year standing member of the bar of a province or territory. The Supreme Court Act requires three out of the nine judges to be appointed from Quebec. Typically 3 will come from Ontario, 2 will come from western provinces or northern Canada and, 1 from the Atlantic provinces. The Canadian judicial system can be visualized as a pyramid, with the supreme court being at the peak.
Why are cases brought before the Supreme Court of Canada?
Jurisdiction of the court is mainly derived from the Supreme Court Act, in which there are three instances where cases may be brought before the supreme court. The First reason is a party who wants to appeal a decision of a lower court, given permission, or leave to appeal. The leave to appeal is often given in cases that involve an inquiry of public importance. Applicants have 60 days after the decision is made by the Court of Appeal to seek leave of appeal from judgments from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court. For leave to be granted, cases must have implications on a wider, national and more public level, as opposed to private, individual interests. The second reason pertains to cases where leave to appeal is not required, referred to appeals “as of right”. This refers to criminal cases where an acquittal has been set aside in the provincial court of appeal where one judge in that Court dissents, disputes, on a question of law. The third reason is where the Governor in Council referred questions to the Court for advisory opinions.
Sessions and Decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada
Section 25 of the Supreme Court Act establishes that a minimum of any five of nine judges are required to convey lawful and binding Supreme Court decisions. Resulting from the high volume of applications considered — between 500 and 600 annually according to the Department of Justice — Supreme Court rulings are often issued without participation from all nine justices. Of the hundreds of cases delivered to the Court, just 65 to 80 are granted leave to appeal, meaning permission to present during one of three sessions held in Ottawa throughout the year: the winter session commencing the fourth Tuesday in January, the spring session starting on the fourth Tuesday in April, and the fall session from the fourth Tuesday in October. Judgements of the court, also referred to as reasons, are rendered on average six months after hearing an appeal, according to the Supreme Court of Canada, and may be delivered either in open court, or by written opinion, co-signed according to the concurrence of each judge.
Decisions of the court need not be unanimous: judges in the minority of a Supreme Court ruling issue their own opinions outlining dissenting reasons. It must be noted that future iterations of the Supreme Court of Canada are not bound by previous decisions; accordingly, judgements passed by unanimous consent of all nine judges should theoretically result in stronger precedents than split decisions passed by fewer judges.
Judgements of the Supreme Court of Canada
The judgements of the Supreme Court of Canada, under the Supreme Court Act ss.44–46.1 are: 44 quashing proceedings, 45 dismissed appeal/awarded process, 46 new trial, or 46.1 remand any appeal. Firstly, The threshold for quashing an appeal contains a high standard and is exercised only in the clearest of cases where the appeal is manifestly devoid of merit or does not raise a question of law; however it is very difficult because a minimal level of merit will defeat a motion to quash. Secondly, a dismissed appeal means the courts are majority in favour of the respondent. Thirdly, a court may request a new trial if the verdict is against the weight of evidence [Check Next Gen Litigator’s Medium Blog post on “Provincial Court Trials”]. Finally, a remand of appeal brings the case back to the lower court when the law or facts of the case was found to be interpreted incorrectly in the lower courts. Additionally, previous cases can be found on the Supreme Court of Canada’s website and find information on scheduled hearings of the Court.
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