For many years, Canadian law was more or less the same as English law. More recently, however, Canada has begun to establish a distinctive approach of its own. In this chapter, we will look at developments in the area of jurisdiction. We take tort as an example.

Introduction

Canada is a federation consisting of a number of provinces, together with certain territories. Each province has its own government and legislature. Under the Canadian Constitution, legislative jurisdiction is divided between the federation (Canada) and the provinces. Most matters of private (civil) law – for example, the law of contract, tort and property – fall within provincial jurisdiction. All the provinces except Quebec base their legal system on the common law of England. Quebec has a civil-law system, originally based on that of France.

Each province has its own court system. However, superior-court judges in the provinces are appointed and paid by the federal authorities, and appeals from all the provinces go to the Supreme Court of Canada, in the federal capital of Ottawa. Unlike the Supreme Court of the United States, the Supreme Court of Canada can hear appeals on provincial law as well as on federal law. The judges on the Supreme Court of Canada represent both the common-law and the civil-law traditions. At the federal level, English and French have equal status.

For the purpose of conflict of laws, each province normally constitutes a separate jurisdiction. Most cases concern inter-provincial, rather than international, conflicts.