The Canadian Legal System: Introduction for Psychiatrists

• Author: Richard D. Schneider and Hy Bloom
• Pages: 1-9

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CHAPTER 1

The Canadian Legal System:

Introduction for Psychiatrists

Richard D. Schneider and Hy Bloom

I. INTRODUCTION

is chapter introduces forensic practitioners to the basics of the Canadian legal system. Although they

are not required to have a comprehensive understanding of the law, it is useful for forensic practitioners

to possess a basic understanding of the sources of law, the Canadian judicial system, and how courts

make decisions. A familiarity with how the law functions can lessen the stress that oen accompanies

the prospect of testifying in court.

e law provides sets of rules, principles, and regulations that govern the conduct of individuals and

institutions within society. Among other things, laws:

• provide the structure for how society runs,

• protect individuals and their property,

• facilitate interpersonal, organizational, and governmental interactions, and

• provide a mechanism for dispute resolution.

Conict is an inherent and inevitable feature of human society. e success of any society will be

determined by the extent to which it is able to resolve conicts, both between individuals and between an

individual and the state. Representing the common values of a society, law is the vehicle for structuring

society and resolving conicts that persist and are not solved through mutual agreement.

II. THE CONSTITUTION AND THE CHARTER OF RIGHTS

e essential structural f ramework of the Canadian legal system is established in the Constitution, which

is formally called the Constitution Act, 1982. e Constitution sets out the allocation of jurisdiction (the

power to legislate) between the two levels of government, federal and provincial. An example of this is

the criminal law, which falls clearly within the jurisdiction of the federal government. at means that

the provinces do not have the power to legislate in the area of the criminal law. On the other hand, the

provinces have exclusive authority over property, health care (a jurisdiction which is complicated by the

nancial power of the federal government in relation to health-care spending), and civil rights, which

means each province has jurisdiction over the laws governing contracts between people and business law

in the province.

In 1982, when the provincial and federal governments in Canada nally agreed to repatriate the

Constitution (in essence, this meant that they agreed on a formula that could be used in the future to

amend the Constitution without going back to the British House of Lords, which reversion had been re-

quired until that point), they also agreed to include the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as an

integral part of Canada’s Constitution. e Charter sets out the essential human rights deemed worthy

of the utmost protection: no government in the country can pass legislation that compromises an enum-