List of Canadian appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

For appeals from the Newfoundland Supreme Court prior to Newfoundland joining Confederation, see List of Newfoundland appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (pre-1949). For appeals from other parts of the British Empire, see List of Judicial Committee of the Privy Council cases.

This is a comprehensive list of cases originating in Canada decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, in Britain.

From 1867 to 1949, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was the highest court of appeal for Canada (and, separately, for Newfoundland, which did not join Canada as a province until 1949). During this period, its decisions on Canadian appeals were binding precedent on all Canadian courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Any decisions from this era that the Supreme Court of Canada has not overruled since gaining appellate supremacy in 1949 remain good law, and continue to bind all Canadian courts other than the Supreme Court.[1] As Canada's ultimate judicial authority for most of its first century as a country following Confederation, the Judicial Committee had a considerable influence on the development of Canadian law, particularly constitutional law, where the living tree doctrine first laid down in Edwards v Canada (AG) remains a defining feature of Canadian constitutional interpretation.[2][3]

The Parliament of Canada abolished appeals to the Judicial Committee of criminal cases in 1933[4] and civil cases in 1949.[5] Ongoing cases that had begun before those dates remained appealable to the Judicial Committee.[6] The final Judicial Committee ruling on a Canadian case was rendered in 1959, in Ponoka-Calmar Oils v Wakefield, an appeal from the Supreme Court.

  1. ^ Debra Parks, Precedent Unbound? Contemporary Approaches to Precedent in Canada (Vancouver: UBC Allard Faculty Publications, 2007), p.3, at [1]
  2. ^ James G. Snell and Frederick Vaughan, The Supreme Court of Canada: History of the Institution (Toronto: Osgoode Society, 1985), pp. 4–9, 42.
  3. ^ Catharine MacMillan, "Canadian Cases before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council", at Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Case papers, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London, last updated February 17, 2021.
  4. ^ Criminal Code Amendment Act S.C. 1932–33, c. 53, s. 17
  5. ^ Supreme Court Amendment Act, S.C. 1949 (2nd. session), c. 37, s. 3
  6. ^ Bora Laskin, The Hamlyn Lectures, Twenty-First Series: The British Tradition in Canadian Law (London: Stevens & Sons, 1969), pp. 1–3, at [2]