#canlii

COURTS IN CANADA FOR DUMMIES:

Courts in Canada are a system. they’re ranked in order of importance, with the federal supreme court being on top and the provincial court being on the bottom. (in the simplest of terms.) filing for divorce? Provincial court. On trial for first degree murder? Court of King’s Bench.

So—when it comes to actually looking these things up on Canlii, you’ll be immediately faced with the fact that it’s all there. It’s a mouthful at first, but once you know which words mean what, it’s easy enough.

PROVINCIAL COURT:

This is very basic stuff, and the starting ground for anything you'll see in the courts above it. Here, the accused faces the court and everything is laid out on the table to determine if they must stand trial. If the accused pleads guilty, this is where they determine the sentence.

This is also where basically anything happens that wouldn't be remarkably newsworthy. On the docket in the courthouse, you're able to see what kind of hearing it is. Browsing Canlii, you won't be able to specifically see what's going on before you click, but it's usually presented to you right away on the transcript.

it differs depending on province, but this is where we would see cases related to drugs and substances, aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a weapon, robberies, theft, traffic, wrongful deaths, suing, small claims (carpenter stole something from my house, etc.) community court sentencings, police misconduct, suings, wills, divorces, custody, etc.

COURT OF KING’S BENCH (or Supreme/Superior Court of the province):

Court of King’s Bench handles the, for lack of a better term, more extreme cases such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd degree murder, attempted murder, sexual assault, etc. If it’s not a situation where the accused person has been arrested and is going up against the cold first of the law, applicants must have their cases reviewed by the Crown. (For example, “I think my sister killed my brother but I don’t know. Here’s the evidence I’ve collected. Review.”)

These are the cases that are most commonly reported on by the media. They typically involve an extreme, intriguing situation or a person of interest. These are also the only hearings that require a jury, but not all do. Reporters who sit in on these trials must not show any shred of a sign that the accused person is guilty or not.

These trials last a long time and occur long after the accused person was charged. (A serial murder suspect arrested in 2022 may not see a judge and jury before 2026. It all depends.)

For hearings that are person v. person, person v. company, etc. you’ll see it listed that way in the list. Cases involving an accused person facing the law will be labelled R V. (NAME)

COURT OF APPEAL:

These hearings are not generally something you’d sit in on, but there’s potential. On a provincial level, the court of appeal is the senior court, usually with an array of multiple judges, separated into panels and led by the chief justice, overseeing the court. They hear appeals on judgements from the provincial court and king’s bench, and sometimes third parties if mandated. They’re there to make sure that, if there’s a chance that something has happened unfairly, they put an end to it right away. If the original judgement and sentence is justifiable without reasonable doubt, the appeal is dismissed. (The FEDERAL court of appeal is similar, but its basic purpose is to make sure that the federal law is being upheld constantly and consistently. Think about copyright.)

The most eye-catching opening these dockets could have, in my opinion, is “Crown sentence appeal,” which brings an entire case back to light. The applicant, often the accused in these cases, find that they were sentenced unfairly and demand better justice.

And once again—a case involving an accused person, see “R V. JANE DOE”

There are more niche sections of court, but this is all you need to know on a casual basis.

More, if it’s useful:

-Sentencing hearings are labelled SENT. These hand feed you information, quick and easy.

-In Canada, we cannot reveal the identity of accused minors. You won’t find that here. Even more, you cannot find information on trials involving young people, including any way to identify them or their families.

-A Gladue Factor comes into play when the accused is Indigenous and carries generational trauma from the country’s past and current treatment of Indigenous Peoples. Sentences are modified.

-You obviously can’t find audio or pictures.

-CanLii has a blog you can check out for what’s making noise on the site: https://blog.canlii.org/

Basic court and ethics rules apply i’m not your dad