Appeals

• Author: Julien D. Payne - Marilyn A. Payne
• Pages: 634-646

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Appeals

A. DEFINITION OF “APPELLATE COURT”

Section () of the Divorce A ct provides that “‘appel late court,’ in respect of an

appeal from a court , means the court exercising appell ate jurisdict ion with

respect to that appea l.” is denition is releva nt to the operation of sec-

tions  and () of the A ct. An exa mination of the aforementioned pro -

visions indicates t hat the determin ation of the appropriate appel late court

and the procedure applicable on appea ls has been delegated to the provi nces.

Although section   of e Constitution Act,  binds b oth the Parliament

of Canada and the prov incial leg islatures and prec ludes any appellate jur is-

diction in divorce proceed ings being exercised by tribu nals other than those

presided over by federally appoi nted judges, some exibilit y exists for the

provinces to select the appropr iate appellate court in exercis ing their legisla-

tive jurisdic tion over the admin istration of justice. e composition of the

appellate court cou ld also vary according to whether the appe al is in respect

of an interim order or a perm anent order for corollary relief.

B. GENERA L OBSERVATIONS

Section () of the Divorce A ct confers a genera l right to appeal from a ny

judgment or order, whether nal or interi m, made pursuant to t he Act. Sec-

tions (), () and (), however, impose restrictions on the r ight of appeal,

which var y according to whether the appea l relates to the judgment qua

 As to the prov incial power of a tr ial judge to reser ve or refer matters to an appe llate

court, see Ar nold v Arnold (–),  NSR  (CA); Iantsis v Papatheodorou (), 

RFL  (Ont CA).