How Much Do You Really Know About Foundations Of Canadian Law?

The Supreme Court of Australia

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

The Supreme Court of Australasia

The High Court of Australia

The Court of Appeal for Australia

The Royal Proclamation of 1763

The Quebec Act, 1774

The Constitutional Act, 1791

The Property and Civil Rights Act, 1792

The Colonial Laws Validity Act, 1865

The Supreme Court of Canada regularly sits in panels of nine, while the Supreme Court of the US ordinarily sits in panels of seven

The Supreme Court of Canada acts as a final court of appeal on all questions of law arising in Canada, while the Supreme Court of the US has a limited jurisdiction

The Supreme Court of Canada is not bound by its own decisions, while the Supreme Court of the US is

The Supreme Court of Canada is bound by its own decisions, while the Supreme Court of the US is not

The Supreme Court of the United States sits only in the national capital, while the Supreme Court of Canada, as a descendant of the English Court of King’s Bench, is peripatetic

The Crown acquires a right to legislate for the new territory by prerogative, which continues until such time as it establishes a legislative assembly for the new territory

The right to legislate for the new territory is acquired immediately by the Imperial parliament

The Crown and the Imperial parliament both acquire a right to legislate for the new territory, which co-exists until the Imperial parliament formally divests the Crown of its rights

The pre-existing legal order continues in force until changed or altered by the Imperial parliament

The common law immediately comes into force in the new territory upon the formal acquisition of British sovereignty

The King's Bench

The Court of Nisi Prius

The Court of Requests

The Assizes

The Curia Regis

The King’s Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Court of Chancery

The King’s Bench, the Common Pleas, the Exchequer, and the Curia Regis

The King’s Bench, the Common Pleas, and the Exchequer

The King’s Bench, the Common Pleas, the Exchequer, and the Court of Chancery

The King’s Bench, the Common Pleas, the Court of Chancery, and the Justiciar’s Court

The best way to ensure the maintenance of individual liberty is to adopt a constitutional bill of rights as the American revolutionaries had done

Given that in a state of nature, life was “solitary, poor, nasty brutish and short”, a despotic government was a better alternative than no government at all

The division of governmental power among distinct branches was a way of ensuring that no one person would have too much power, which was the best way to ensure the maintenance of individual liberty

The concept of natural law cannot exist within the rubric of a constitutional state

That all Men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

The fact that Roman Law only applied to Roman citizens meant that when Rome abandoned Britain, a legal void existed which came to be filled by a diversity of legal systems, which reflected the “tribal” laws of the succeeding invaders

The fact that Britain was under Roman occupation for something approaching half a millennium meant that Britain came to be one of the repositories of Roman law within Western Europe following the sacking of Rome by the Barbarians in the fifth century AD

The fact that Britain was under Roman occupation was the direct cause of the introduction of the common law system in England

It was the Roman occupation of the far-flung colony of Britain that led the Emperor Hadrian to develop the Corpus Juris (i.e. the first written Roman Civil Code)

The existence of written records of legal proceedings taking place in Britain during the Roman occupation illustrates that the Roman Empire had a well-developed system of private law

It acted as the final court of appeal for the British Empire

Its shares a common root with the British Cabinet

Though the last Canadian appeal took place in 1959, appeals were formally abolished by the Canada Act, 1982 (Imp) [1949]

Its judges include both Law Lords and members of the highest courts from those jurisdictions which maintain appe`als

It does not issue actual judgments; rather, it only issues advice

Richard Cour de Lion

King John

Simon de Montfort

Henry I

Thomas a Becket

The Supreme Court of Canada

The Court of Appeals for England and Wales

The High Court of Australia

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

The Supreme Court of the United States

Australia

Canada

India

Newfoundland

South Africa

Edward’s religious piousness gave William the justification to attempt to introduce a Roman-based legal system following the Conquest in 1066

The arrangement served to delay the Norman Conquest of England in that it encouraged William to wait until Edward’s death before claiming the English throne

Knowledge of the existence of the arrangement led King Harold to begin to introduce the common law immediately prior to the Conquest in an attempt to “charm” the English into accepting his rule.

The arrangement led William to claim a lawful entitlement to the throne, which was the basis for him proclaiming fealty to the Anglo-Saxon law after the Conquest

It led to the weaving of the Bayeux Tapestry, which commemorates the events leading up to the Norman Conquest

William the Conquerer

Henry I

Henry II

Henry III

Richard the Lionheart

It held that the King could no longer create crimes without Parliament’s approval

It held that the King could no longer levy taxes without Parliament’s approval

It held that the King could no longer dismiss judges; that right existed in Parliament

It held that the King could no longer take an active part in the adjudication of cases

It held that the King could no longer respond personally to bills submitted in equity; that right existed in the Chancellor

The common law trumps equity, except in cases involving fraud or breach of trust

Equity trumps the common law, but in cases involving disputes over ownership of land, the common law must be resorted to first

Equity trumps the common law, but it must first be demonstrated that equity needs to be resorted to in lieu of the law

The common law trumps equity, except where equity is resorted to first

Equity trumps the common law, except in cases involving intentional torts

Trial by ordeal and trial by battle were abolished when the Church refused to countenance the participation in them by Priests

The original notion of the jury was to have a group of people who were presumed to know which party to a lawsuit was most likely to lie

Most Writs were written in Latin

In a trial by ordeal by fire, the act of healing was taken as a sign of innocence

In a trial by ordeal by immersion, the act of sinking was taken as a sign of innocence

The four Inns of Court are Lincoln’s Inn, Gray’s Inn and the Inner and Middle Temple

A QC takes precedence over junior counsel

Every lawyer in England must belong to one of the Inns of Court

The Inns of Court had their origin in a need for common lodging space for barristers, with close proximity to the courts

On ceremonial occasions, QCs are entitled to wear a judge’s wig

It marked the beginning of the division between what we now call legislative power, and what we refer to as executive power

It meant that the Church of England would be separate from the Church in Rome, which ensured that England would remain a common law jurisdiction

It led to conflict between the Lord Chief Justice and the Chancellor over the relative primacy of the common law and equity

It led to the development of the substance and procedure relating to the common law of real property

It facilitated the decline of the writ system

The fact that the language of the common law courts was French

The fact that techniques of proof in the common law were primitive

The fact that the Chancellor maintained custody of the Great Seal

The fact that the King’s Bench continued to follow the King, while the Common Pleas remained stationary at Westminster

The fact that the Church disapproved of non-judicial trials

The former is a Court of Inherent Jurisdiction, while the latter is a creature of statute

The former has a right to hear any type of case at first instance, while the latter has a limited jurisdiction

The two courts’ judges are appointed by different levels of government

One is a court of first instance, while the other is an appellate court

The two courts’ judges are appointed from different provincial bars

The American Civil War

The appointment of Benjamin Boothby as Chief Justice of South Australia

The invention of the telegraph

The cost of constructing the Inter-Colonial Railway line

The personal ambition of John A MacDonald

The proper function of government was to lift man out of a state of nature

There were certain natural limits that are imposed upon governments, else they lose their legitimacy

Acts of regicide (i.e. killing a sitting monarch) are permissible in order to protect private property rights

It is unjust for very rich people to hold great areas of land unused when they could be put to use for the benefit of humanity, i.e. for agricultural purposes

Without a constitutionally enshrined bill of rights, civil society cannot be said to exist

The Lord Chancellor

The Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench

The Lord Chief Justice of Great Britain

The Lord Chief Justice of England

The President

As custodian of the Great Seal, the Chancellor was a person of tremendous influence in terms of shaping the scope of the Writ system

Since the office was occupied by a Bishop for its first few centuries, Roman law precepts came to be a dominant influence in the evolution of Equity

The first lay Chancellor was St Thomas More

Charles Dickens’ parody of the procedures in Chancery served as a significant impetus for fusion of law and equity

The present-day Lord Chancellor is the head of the judiciary in the United Kingdom

Because through their demands, the Barons showed that they had accepted the notion of central rule

Because Magna Carta was one of the first enunciations of what we today would recognize as “enshrined” civil rights

Because Magna Carta gave rise to the Provisions of Oxford, which in turn had a profound impact on the system of pleading

Because Magna Carta solidified the notion of the administration of justice as being distinct from the King’s person

Because Magna Carta provided that a council of nobles would oversee the King’s rule, to ensure that he observed the terms of the Charter

The legislative union of Britain’s North American colonies

The assimilation of the Crown’s French-speaking subjects in Lower Canada

The imposition of tariffs to support industrial development in Upper and Lower Canada

A more efficient system of defence for British North America

The introduction of responsible government in British North America

High Court of Justice, Court of Appeal, House of Lords

High Court of Justice, Court of Appeal, House of Lords, Privy Council

Court of Queen’s Bench, Court of Appeal, House of Lords

High Court of Justice, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court, House of Lords

Supreme Court of Justice, Court of Appeal, House of Lords

Christopher Columbus Langdell

John Falconbridge

Judge William Elliott

Tapping Reeve

William Meredith

The King could no longer take an active part in the drafting of statutes

In the case of ambiguity in a statute’s language, one should look at the "mischief" to which the Act was directed, or the problem that it was trying to address, and give the ambiguous words whichever interpretation would be likely to further that goal

If a statute offends a principle of natural law, the courts can disregard it

The literal meaning of words in a statute is to be applied unless they will lead to an absurd result, in which case the ordinary meaning of the words can be modified to the extent necessary to avoid the absurdity

Words in a statute are to be assigned their literal meaning; if this leads to an illogicality or an injustice, it is the duty of parliament to correct it

As a badge of rank, Sergeants used to wear a Coif

Sergeants had a monopoly of appearance in the Common Pleas and the Exchequer

As a sign of fraternity, Sergeants referred to one another as “Brother”

The Order of Sergeantry eventually fell into disrepute as a consequence of “patronage appointments”

Only Sergeants could be appointed to the Bench

Dalhousie Law School is the oldest faculty of common law in the British Empire

Cecil Augustus (“Caesar”) Wright was appointed Dean of Law at Harvard in 1870

The notion of a university-based legal education was not fully accepted in Ontario until 1957

A Faculty of Law at Western was first opened in 1885

The LSAT was first written in 1948

The fact that the Crown in Canada owns most of the Canadian landmass, which enables it to deal with Aboriginal land claims in the way that it does

The fact that a showdown occurred between Sir Edward Coke CJ and Lord Ellesmere LC over the relative authority of equity and common law

The fact that one of the implications of feudalism was that just below the King sat a group of powerful nobles, upon whose support the King depended for his authority, which formed the nucleus of what eventually became known as parliament

The fact that the Provisions of Oxford came to be law, which in turn led the system of pleading (i.e. the writ system) to become exceptionally complex

The fact that after the introduction of the common law, the language of the courts was for several centuries French

Nova Scotia - settlement

Ontario - conquest

Fiji - cession

Australia - settlement

New Brunswick - conquest

It set out in succinct form the rules regarding the reception of English law within the British Empire

It represented the first time that the common law had been considered, in a scholarly way, as a system

Its timing coincided with, and contributed to, the foment leading up to the American Revolution

It propounded, for the first time, the constitutional theory of the separation of powers

It provides an illustration of what a course of legal education looked like in the middle part of the eighteenth century