Legal Literacy 
Law Primer: Part One

Public law governs the relationship between the government and individual citizens or organizations. It ensures that the state acts within its legal limits. It includes: 

• Constitutional Law: Sets out the powers of government and rights of citizens. 

• Administrative Law: Controls the actions of government agencies, boards, and tribunals. 

• Criminal Law: Deals with offenses against society as a whole (prosecuted by the Crown). 

In this context, "civil law" refers to private law—the rules that govern disputes between private individuals, businesses, or organizations. Unlike criminal law, the government's role here is simply to provide a neutral forum (the courts) to settle the fight.

Private law covers a massive range of daily human interactions. The primary types include: 

• Tort Law: Deals with civil wrongs or injuries caused by one person to another (e.g., negligence, slip-and-falls, medical malpractice, or defamation). 

• Contract Law: Governs legally binding agreements between parties, such as buying a house, hiring a contractor, or employment contracts. 

• Family Law: Handles domestic relationships, including marriage, divorce, child custody, and spousal support. 

• Property Law: Dictates the rights of buying, selling, renting, and owning real estate or personal belongings. 

• Wills and Estates: Covers what happens to a person’s property and assets after they die. 

Canada divides its political and legal power among three distinct branches to ensure a system of checks and balances: 

Branch	Who is in it?	What do they do?
Legislative	The Parliament (King/Governor General, House of Commons, and Senate).	Make the law. They debate, vote on, and pass bills into statutes.
Executive	The Prime Minister, Cabinet, and government departments/civil service.	Enforces and administers the law. They run the daily operations of the country.
Judicial	An independent network of judges and courts.	Interprets the law. They resolve legal disputes and evaluate whether laws passed by the Legislative branch are constitutional.

Passed in 1960 by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, the Canadian Bill of Rights was Canada's first federal law explicitly protecting human rights. However, it had two major limitations: 

1. It was a regular federal statute, meaning Parliament could easily amend or overturn it. 

2. It only applied to federal laws, completely ignoring provincial matters. 

Enacted in 1982 as part of the Constitution, the Charter replaced the Bill of Rights in terms of practical impact. Because it is entrenched in the Constitution, it applies to all levels of government (federal, provincial, and territorial), and any law that violates the Charter can be struck down by the courts.

The Charter protects a broad range of fundamental rights, grouped into key categories: 

• Fundamental Freedoms: Freedom of expression, religion, peaceful assembly, and association. 

• Democratic Rights: The right of citizens to vote in elections and run for political office. 

• Mobility Rights: The right to enter, remain in, and leave Canada, and to move to any province to work. 

• Legal Rights: The right to life, liberty, and security of the person; protection against unreasonable search and seizure, and arbitrary detention. 

• Equality Rights: Equal treatment before and under the law without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, or mental/physical disability. 

• Language Rights: Establishes English and French as the official languages of Canada. 

 

Unlike regular Charter rights, Indigenous rights are protected under Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982. Because Section 35 sits outside the Charter, these rights cannot be overridden by government mechanisms like the Charter's "notwithstanding clause." What these rights actually cover: 

• Aboriginal Rights: Inherent, collective rights held by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples arising from their historical occupation and use of the land before European contact (e.g., rights to hunt, fish, and practice traditional customs). 

• Treaty Rights: Rights explicitly set out in historic or modern agreements signed between the Crown and Indigenous groups (e.g., land claims agreements or rights to specific economic benefits). 

The Canadian court system is organized like a pyramid. Decisions made by higher courts are binding on lower courts within their jurisdiction.

1. Provincial and Territorial Courts (Lower Courts): These handle the vast majority of cases. They deal with less serious criminal offenses (summary offenses), family law disputes, traffic violations, and small claims. 

2. Provincial and Territorial Superior Courts: These courts hear more serious criminal trials (like murder) and major civil cases involving larger sums of money. They also act as a first level of appeal for decisions made by lower provincial courts. 

3. Provincial and Territorial Courts of Appeal & Federal Court of Appeal: These are strictly appeal courts. They do not hold trials, hear witnesses, or look at new evidence. Instead, a panel of judges reviews transcripts from the lower courts to ensure the law was applied correctly. 

4. The Supreme Court of Canada: Located in Ottawa, this is the highest court in the land and the final court of appeal. It consists of nine judges. It only hears cases of "public importance" that have a significant impact on Canadian law as a whole. Its rulings are final and apply across all of Canada.