How the Law Works in Canada
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This page from JP Boyd on Family Law—and other pages from this Wikibook that discuss BC family law litigation topics—are under editorial review to provide more thorough, current, and practical guidance. Since 2020, procedures, forms, and laws have changed significantly. While gross inaccuracies have been corrected, some details may still be outdated. These pages were not included in the 2024 print edition, and have been highlighted in orange where they appear in the navigation menu on this website. |
In Canada, our law comes primarily from two sources: legislative bodies and the courts.
What are laws and legislative bodies?
Often when someone talks about a law, they are referring to legislation, which are laws passed by governmental legislative bodies, such as the Legislative Assembly of BC. Generally, you’ll want to find the most up to date, current versions of laws to help with your case. You can find links to current legislation on the Clicklaw page Laws, Cases & Rules.
Legislative bodies include the federal parliament, provincial legislatures such as the Legislative Assembly of BC, and municipal councils such as the city of Vancouver, or the village of Oliver. These legislative bodies pass laws, which are also referred to as legislation. Legislation includes laws that are referred to as acts or statutes, as well as regulations. Regulations outline the rules that go with specific acts like fees, forms and specific instructions. For example, the Compassionate Care Leave Regulation is one of the rules under the Employment Standards Act, which outlines the relationships that allow someone to take compassionate care leave.
There are federal laws, which are Canada-wide, and provincial laws, which only apply in that province. The federal government controls laws such as criminal law, banking and defence. The provincial governments control laws such as education and health. Sometimes provincial laws and federal laws overlap. For example, there are both provincial and federal laws related to family matters.
Municipalities are given power by provincial legislatures to pass bylaws about local matters such as zoning, parking and noise. Again, sometimes laws may overlap. For example, if you want to find out what the law says about prostitution in Vancouver, you need to check both the federal criminal code and the municipal anti-soliciting bylaw.
First Nations with treaties, such as Tsawwaassen and Nisga’a are self governing and have their own constitution and laws. Indian bands which are still governed by the federal Indian Act can pass bylaws for their band.
Good starting points to learn more about laws include
- The factsheets How A Bill Becomes Law in BC and How a Bill Becomes a Law in Canada from Courthouse Libraries BC
- The book Legislation Made Easy, available in most public libraries, explains the legislative process in a simple, easy to understand manner.
- A Guide to Legislation and Legislative Process in British Columbia is an in-depth guide from the BC Ministry of Justice.
- The web page By-laws from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.
Also see the section in this guide How to Find Laws
What is case law?
Canada (except for Quebec) uses a system of law called “common law”, which means that courts are bound to follow the principles established by previous courts in similar cases dealing with similar facts. Finding case law similar to your own situation will help you understand how the courts may treat your own circumstances and the strength of your position in a dispute.
Case law is also referred to as “judge-made law”, written decisions, reasons for judgment, judgments, and precedents. A case law decision reports the judge’s decision and is not a word for word transcript of the entire courtroom proceedings. Case law decisions do not contain any of the files from the court proceedings.
For further information on case law, see The CanLII Primer: Legal Research Principles and CanLII Navigation for Self-Represented Litigants chapter on “The System of Precedent”.
Also see the section in this guide How Do I Find Case Law?.
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