Court Administration Systems
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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS of key characteristics of COURT ADMINISTRATION SYSTEMS Presented to the Canadian Judicial Council Administration of Justice Committee Administrative Efficiency in Trial and Appeal Courts Sub-Committee By Karim Benyekhlef Cléa Iavarone-Turcotte Nicolas Vermeys Université de Montréal Centre de recherche en droit public July 6th, 2011 © Canadian Judicial Council Catalogue Number JU14-24/2013E-PDF ISBN 978-1-100-21994-3 Available from: Canadian Judicial Council Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0W8 (613) 288-1566 (613) 288-1575 (facsimile) and at: www.cjc-ccm.gc.ca FOREWORD | iii Foreword In 2006, the Canadian Judicial Council published a report entitled Alternative Models of Court Administration. In exploring the trend towards governments granting greater administrative autonomy to the courts, the report offered seven different models present in a number of jurisdictions. In 2011 the Administration of Justice Committee of Council commissioned a research study which would present a comparison of key characteristics of court administrative systems against those models in common law countries including Australia, England and Wales, New Zealand, North Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland. Key to this comparative analysis was the collection of legislation, memoranda of understanding and other forms of written agreements between the Judiciary and the Executive. They outline which level of government is responsible for certain or all aspects of court administration. The report consists of two documents. Presented here is the first part, namely, a comparative analysis building on the seven models presented in the 2006 report and further analysing how each of the selected jurisdictions advances their work according to six specific characteristics of court administration. Further below is the second part, namely, a report presented in a chart or table format which gives an overview of the analysis’ content and provides for an easy comparison of the systems in place within the respective jurisdictions. CONTENTS | v Contents PREAMBLE. 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 3 AUSTRALIA – FEDERAL LEVEL ..........................................................................11 Federal Magistrates Court .........................................................................11 Family Court .......................................................................................13 Federal Court ......................................................................................15 High Court ........................................................................................18 AUSTRALIAN STATES ...................................................................................21 New South Wales Supreme Court ...................................................................21 Queensland Supreme Court ........................................................................23 South Australia Supreme Court .....................................................................25 Tasmania Supreme Court ..........................................................................28 Victoria Supreme Court ............................................................................30 Western Australia Supreme Court ..................................................................32 AUSTRALIAN MAINLAND TERRITORIES ..................................................................35 Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court .........................................................35 Northern Territory Supreme Court ..................................................................37 CANADA – FEDERAL LEVEL .............................................................................39 Supreme Court ....................................................................................39 Federal Court Of Appeal, Federal Court, Court Martial Appeal Court And Tax Court Of Canada .......41 CANADA – PROVINCES AND TERRITORIES ...............................................................43 Alberta – Provincial Court ..........................................................................43 Alberta – Court Of Queen’s Bench ..................................................................45 Alberta – Court Of Appeal ..........................................................................48 British Columbia – Provincial Court .................................................................50 British Columbia – Supreme Court ..................................................................52 British Columbia – Court Of Appeal .................................................................54 Manitoba – Provincial Court ........................................................................55 Manitoba – Court Of Queen’s Bench ................................................................57 Manitoba – Court Of Appeal .......................................................................58 New Brunswick – Provincial Court ..................................................................60 New Brunswick – Court Of Queen’s Bench ..........................................................61 New Brunswick – Court Of Appeal ..................................................................63 vi | CONTENTS Newfoundland And Labrador – Provincial Court ....................................................64 Newfoundland And Labrador – Supreme Court, Trial Division .......................................66 Newfoundland and Labrador – Supreme Court, Appeal Division ....................................68 Northwest Territories – Territorial Court .............................................................70 Northwest Territories – Supreme Court .............................................................71 Northwest Territories – Court Of Appeal ............................................................72 Nova Scotia – All Courts ............................................................................73 Nunavut – Court Of Justice And Court Of Appeal ....................................................75 Ontario – Court Of Justice .........................................................................76 Ontario – Superior Court Of Justice ................................................................79 Ontario – Court Of Appeal .........................................................................81 Prince Edward Island – Provincial Court ............................................................83 Prince Edward Island – Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. 84 Québec – Court Of Québec .........................................................................86 Québec – Superior Court ...........................................................................88 Québec – Court Of Appeal .........................................................................89 Saskatchewan – Provincial Court ...................................................................92 Saskatchewan – Court Of Queen’s Bench ...........................................................94 Saskatchewan – Court Of Appeal ...................................................................95 Yukon – Territorial Court ...........................................................................96 Yukon – Supreme Court ...........................................................................98 Yukon – Court Of Appeal ..........................................................................99 ENGLAND AND WALES – UK SUPREME COURT ..........................................................100 ENGLAND AND WALES – OTHER COURTS ...............................................................103 NEW ZEALAND – ALL COURTS .........................................................................106 NORTHERN IRELAND – UK SUPREME COURT ...........................................................108 NORTHERN IRELAND – OTHER COURTS ................................................................109 REPUBLIC OF IRELAND – ALL COURTS ..................................................................112 SCOTLAND – UK SUPREME COURT .....................................................................115 SCOTLAND – OTHER COURTS ..........................................................................116 SCHEDULE I. 179 SUMMARY CHART .....................................................................................193 PREAMBLE | 1 PREAMBLE In Canada, court administration is most frequently controlled by the executive, through ministries or departments of justice. However, in recent years, many provincial governments have agreed to confer greater administrative independence to courts through informal arrangements as well as written agreements (Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), protocols, etc.). This is the case of, amongst others, Québec’s Court of Québec and Court of Appeal, and Ontario’s Court of Justice. This movement among Canadian provinces towards greater administrative autonomy of courts is consistent with a broader international trend which debuted in the USA and slowly but surely won over other common law countries1. Federal courts in the United States have been operating autonomously since as early as 1939, when Congress withdrew administrative control of federal courts from the Department of Justice and assigned it to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (the “Office”). This agency performs its function under the direction and supervision of the Judicial Conference of the United States, which