Appeals

• Author: Julien D. Payne/Marilyn A. Payne
• Pages: 528-537

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   

APPEALS

A. DEFIN ITION OF “APPELLATE COURT”

Section()oftheDivorce Act providesthat“appellatecourt,”inrespectofanappealfrom

a court, meansthe court exercising appellatejurisdiction with respect to that appeal.” is

def‌initionisrelevanttotheoperationofsectionsand()oftheAct.Anexamination

of the aforementioned prov isions indicat es that the determ ination of the appropriate ap-

pellate cour t and the procedure applicable on appeal s has been delegated to the provinces .

Although se ction  of the Constitution Act,  binds both the Parl iament of Canada and

the provinci al legislat ures and precludes a ny appellate jur isdiction i n divorce proceed ings

being exercised by tribunals other than those presided over by federally appointed judges,

some f‌lexibility exist s for the prov inces to select the appropriate appellate court in exercis-

ing their legislative jurisdiction over the administration of justice.e composition of the

appellate court could also vary according to whether the appeal is in respect of an interim

order or a permanent order for corolla ry relief.

B. GENER AL OBSERVATIONS

Section () of the Divorce Act confers a genera l right to appeal f rom any judgment or or-

der,whetherf‌inalorinterim,madepursuanttotheAct.Sections(),()and(),however,

impose restr ictions on the ri ght of appeal, which v ary accordi ng to whether the appea l re-

lates to the judgment qu a marital status or to interim or f‌inal corollary orders.e right of

appeal provided by the Divorce Act prevai ls over any lim itations or restr ictions that m ight

 Astotheprovincialpowerofatrialjudgetoreserveorrefermatterstoanappellatecourt,seeAstotheprovincialpowerofatrialjudgetoreserveorrefermatterstoanappellatecourt,seeArnold v.

Arnold (– ),  N.S.R .  (C.A .); Iantsis v. Papatheodorou (),R.F.L.(Ont.C.A.).

 SeeSee Colletta v. Colletta (),R.F.L.(d)(Ont.C.A.),whereinitwasheldthatanappealsolely

respectinginterim relieflies to the Divisional Courtunder s. ()(b)of the Cour ts of Justice Act,R.S.O.

,c.C.,withleaveasprovidedbytheRules of Civil P rocedure,butanappealwithrespecttoboth

thedivorceandcorollaryrelief,whetherinterimorf‌inal,liestotheCourtofAppealunders.().

Compare Swift v. Swift (),O.A.C.(Div.Ct.).Astoleavetoappeal,seeSectionD,belowinthis

chapter.