Legal Terms: Chapter Three - The Judiciary: The Third Branch of Government Flashcards
Appellant
Individual, corporation or entity who lost at a trial and who initiates an appeal to a higher court.
Binding
A decision made by a higher court that must be followed by a lower court in the same jurisdiction (on the principle of stare decisis)
Case
Refers to the reasons for judgement (where the court provides them) to the court process, or to the entire dispute from beginning to end.
Case Brief
Summary of case with constituent parts of the court’s reasons for judgement arranged in a set order.
Court
State-sanctioned forum where disputes between opposing litigants are formally adjudicated.
Decision
Refers to the outcome or disposition of a case, to the holding in the case or to the entire set of reasons the court gives for its judgements.
Defendant
Individual, corporation or other entity who defends a non-criminal lawsuit initiated by the plaintiff.
Dissent
Refers (in context of a split decision on appeal) to the judgement of one or more justices in the minority. A disagreement.
Facta
Written legal arguments to be presented on an appeal.
Federal Superior Courts / Federal Courts
Federal Court, Federal Court of Appeal, the Tax Court of Canada and the Court Martial Appeal Court
Headnote
Summary of reasons for judgement. located near the beginning of a reported version of the case.
Inferior Courts
Provincial and territorial courts whose jurisdiction is limited to the less serious criminal matters, family and youth matters and small claims disputes’ the federal courts-martial, part of the military court system are also…
Judgement
Final outcome or disposition of the dispute heard before the court, or, when the court provides reasons for its judgement, the entire set of reasons.
Judicial Independence
Principle that judges should be free to make decisions based on the law and free from outside interference.
Majority
Refers to the group of justices who form the … and whose decision becomes the decision of the court.
Neutral Citation
A unique citation protocol, recognized internationally and in all Canadian courts, according to which courts number each of their judgements consecutively for the year in question, as well as the paragraphs within judgements.
Obiter dicta / obiter dictum
Statements made by the court in its reasons for judgement that may be of interest, but that are inessential to the decision and therefore have no binding authority.
Open Court Principle
Principle that judicial proceedings should be administered in public.
Persuasive
Describes a precedent that a court is persuaded to give some weight to but is not bound to follow, because the precedent is from another jurisdiction or is otherwise not binding.
Plaintiff
Individual, corporation or other entity who initiates a non-criminal lawsuit.
Precedent
Court decisions that under the doctrine of stare decisis is binding on lower courts in the same jurisdiction.
Provincial Superior Courts
Provincially constituted courts with inherent jurisdiction to hear all matters (unless taken away by legislation)’ two levels—a trial level and an appeal level; sometimes refers just to the trial level.
Puisne
Term applied to describe judges who rank below another judge or judges on the same court—for example: the judges below the chief justice on an appeal court.
Reference
Special case in which the executive branch of government refers a question of law to a court of appeal, usually a question concerning the constitutionality of a statute or court of action the government is considering.
Reserve
Postpone rendering its decision, after a hearing has concluded, so the court can carefully prepare the reasons for its judgement.
Respondent
Individual, corporation or other entity who won at trial and who is responding to the appellant on an appeal to a higher court.
Section 96 Courts
Provincial superior courts, so called because their judges are federally appointed under section 96 of the Constitution Act, 1867.
Style of Cause
The name of the case or title of the proceeding, consisting of the names of the parties to the dispute.
Supreme Court of Canada
Canada’s highest court and final court of appeal
Territorial Superior Courts
Federally constituted superior courts with jurisdiction in the territories.
Unified Family Courts
Special divisions of the trial level of a provincial superior court with complete jurisdiction over family law matters, including matters that would otherwise be heard in a provincial inferior court.
