Role of the Court

The Canadian Judicial System

Court Building

Creation and Beginnings of the Court

Judges of the Court

Administration of the Court

Supreme Court of Canada Mission and Objectives

SCC Bibliography

Employment Opportunities

Planning Documents

Performance Reports

Proactive Disclosure

About the Court

Creation and Beginnings of the Court

The Supreme Court of Canada, which stands today as the final arbiter of legal disputes in the Canadian judicial system, has not always enjoyed the status of court of last resort. Its history begins more than a century after the appearance of courts in Canada and its role has evolved considerably since its creation in 1875.

Courts of law flourished in eighteenth-century Quebec (Lower Canada) and Ontario (Upper Canada), and in the Maritime colonies during the same period. Judicial records predating 1750 survive in Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The Quebec Act, 1774, section 17, defined powers for creating British-style criminal, civil and ecclesiastical courts in Quebec, alongside that province's much more ancient French courts. The Constitutional Act, 1791, created the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and established new courts for each province. Next, the Union Act, 1840 created the first Court of Appeal, in this case for Upper Canada, and set salaries for judges in both Canadas.

It was the British North America Act, 1867, now called the Constitution Act, 1867, that first created a united Canada (Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) and defined the basic elements of the country's judicial system. The Governor General appoints all county, district and superior court judges. Once appointed, a judge's independence is guaranteed by virtue of his or her serving "during good behaviour". Judicial salaries are "fixed and provided by the Parliament of Canada". Under the Constitution Act, 1867, all existing provincial courts were to continue and bilingualism was guaranteed in the federal Parliament and the courts within federal jurisdiction. At the time of Confederation, decisions from provincial courts could be appealed directly to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, in London, for a final decision.

The Constitution Act, 1867, invited the new federal Parliament to create its own court of appeal. The Parliament of Canada could "provide for the constitution, maintenance, and organization of a general court of appeal for Canada". This provision was used by Parliament, a few years later, to create the Supreme Court of Canada. However, decisions of the new court still could be appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for final judgment. The Judicial Committee's superior appellate jurisdiction over Canada did not end until 1933, for criminal appeals, and 1949, for civil appeals.

The Supreme Court of Canada's beginnings were most inauspicious. Bills for its creation, introduced in the Parliament of Canada in 1869 and in 1870, were withdrawn. On April 8, 1875, however, a new bill was finally passed. The statesmen most prominent in establishing the Supreme Court were Sir John A. Macdonald, Télesphore Fournier, Alexander Mackenzie and Edward Blake.

The original members of the Court signed their oaths of office in the Senate Chamber on November 8, 1875, exactly one month after the swearing-in ceremony for the first Chief Justice, the Honourable William Buell Richards, and the first Registrar, Robert Cassels. The Court was inaugurated at a state dinner on November 18th, and by mid-January 1876 the new Court had drafted a set of rules of procedure. But at its first sitting, on January 17th, there was not a single case to hear. Its first "case", in April, was a reference from the Senate requesting the Court's opinion on a private bill. Having dealt with that, the Court next sat for one week in June 1876, when it disposed of three cases. It was not convened again until the following January, when it began to hold regular sessions with a full agenda.

The Court originally had six judges. In addition to Chief Justice Richards, five associate or puisne judges sat (puisne meaning literally "born after"). They were William Johnstone Ritchie, Samuel Henry Strong, Jean-Thomas Taschereau, Télesphore Fournier and William Alexander Henry. Each also became a judge of the simultaneously created Exchequer Court (later known as the Federal Court), which was soon given its own judges.

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of the Courtroom in the old Court building

In 1927 the number of Supreme Court judges increased to seven and, in 1949, with the abolition of appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the Court reached its present total of nine members. Of the nine, the Supreme Court Act requires that three be appointed from Quebec. Traditionally, the federal government appoints three judges from Ontario, two from the West, and one from Atlantic Canada.

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of the old Court building

The Court first sat in the Railway Committee Room in the Parliament Buildings, then in several other rooms as they became available. In 1882 the Court moved to its own small two-storey building at the foot of Parliament Hill on Bank Street. It would be another 60 years before construction of the building currently occupied by the Court would begin. Queen Elizabeth laid the cornerstone in the presence of her husband, King George VI, on May 20, 1939.

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of the crowd at the laying of the cornerstone

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of the laying of the cornestone

After delays caused by World War II and the government's use of the new building to meet wartime needs, the Court finally took possession in January 1946 and heard its first case there that same month.