Court of Appeal of Alberta
{{Short description|Canadian appellate court}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox high court
|court_name = Court of Appeal of Alberta
|image =
|imagesize = 100px
|caption =
|established = 1921
|jurisdiction = Alberta, Canada
|location= Law Courts, Edmonton; Calgary Courts Centre, Calgary
|coordinates=
|type =
|authority = {{ubl|Judicature Act|Court of Appeal Act}}
|terms =
|positions = 14 (in addition to chief justice of Alberta, supernumerary judges, and the judges of the Court of King's Bench of Alberta, who are {{lang|la|ex officio}} members of the Court of Appeal)
|website = {{official URL}}
|chiefjudgetitle = Chief justice
|chiefjudgename = Ritu Khullar
}}
The Court of Appeal of Alberta (frequently referred to as Alberta Court of Appeal or ABCA) is a Canadian appellate court that serves as the highest appellate court in the jurisdiction of Alberta, subordinate to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Jurisdiction and hierarchy within Canadian courts
The court is the highest in Alberta, Canada. It hears appeals from the Alberta Court of King's Bench, the Provincial Court of Alberta, and administrative boards and tribunals, as well as references from the Lieutenant Governor in Council (essentially the Alberta Cabinet). Some administrative appeals may bypass the Court of King's Bench, commonly orders made by professional discipline boards under the Medical Profession Act,{{Cite canlaw |link=http://canlii.ca/t/jhfd |short title= Medical Profession Act |abbr=RSA |year=2000 |part=4 |chapter=M-11}} the Legal Profession Act,{{Cite canlaw |link=http://canlii.ca/t/53jjp |short title=Legal Profession Act |abbr=RSA |year=2000 |chapter=L-8}} but also under the Energy Resources Conservation Act.{{Cite canlaw |link=http://canlii.ca/t/kzbn |short title=Energy Resources Conservation Act |abbr=RSA |year=2000 |chapter=E-10}}
Appeals from the Court of Appeal lie with the Supreme Court of Canada, Canada's court of last resort. Other than certain criminal matters, appeals to the Supreme Court of Canada are heard only by leave of that court. Since the Supreme Court denies leave in most cases, the Court of Appeal is the final court for most matters originating in Alberta.
Unlike the Court of King's Bench, the Court of Appeal has no inherent jurisdiction and therefore requires a statute to grant it the power to hear a matter before a panel is convened. As a court of a province, it is administered by the provincial government. Hearings are held exclusively in Edmonton's Law Courts and the Calgary Courts Centre. Unlike other provinces (except Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario), the Alberta Court of Appeal displays a different coat of arms than its lower courts: the coat of arms of Canada.
History
The court originated from the old Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories which was replaced by the Supreme Court of Alberta in 1907 (shortly after Alberta became a province in 1905). The new Supreme Court of Alberta comprised a trial division and an appellate division (essentially, brother justices of the Supreme Court sitting {{lang|fr|en banc}} with a quorum of three).
The second chief justice of Alberta, Horace Harvey, supported an independent appellate court designed only to hear appeals. The Judicature Act enacted these changes in 1919, and it was proclaimed in 1921.{{cite web|url=https://albertacourts.ca/court-of-appeal/history |title=History of the Court of Appeal |publisher=Alberta Court of Appeal |website=Albertacourts.ca |access-date=August 5, 2018}} It was not until 1979 that the court changed its name to the "Court of Appeal of Alberta" through the Court of Appeal Act,{{Cite canlaw |link=http://canlii.ca/t/543wx |short title=Court of Appeal Act |abbr=RSA |year=2000 |chapter=C-30}} at the same time that the Supreme Court Trial Division and the District Court were amalgamated and renamed the "Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta".
Composition
There are 14 official positions on the bench{{cite web|url=http://www.fja.gc.ca/appointments-nominations/judges-juges-eng.aspx|title=Federal Judicial Appointments - Number of Federally Appointed Judges in Canada|first=Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs|last=Canada|website=www.fja.gc.ca|date=March 31, 2007 }} including the chief justice of Alberta, who is the highest judicial officer in the province. At any given time there may be several additional judges who also sit as supernumerary justices. As a Section 96 court, the justices are appointed by the federal government and may hold office until the age of 75. Some of the justices have elected supernumerary (part-time or semi-retired) status. Occasionally, justices of the Court of King's Bench of Alberta sit on appeals. This is done at the request of a justice of the Court of Appeal. When this happens, these justices are sitting {{lang|la|ex officio}}, but they have the same powers and duties as other justices of the Court of Appeal.
Most cases are heard by a panel of three justices, although the chief justice may convene a larger panel in exceptional circumstances. A single justice presides over matters heard in chambers, usually interlocutory matters or applications for leave to appeal.
Association with the Northwest Territories
Justices of the Court of Appeal for the Northwest Territories are selected from the justices of the Court of Appeal of Alberta, Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan, and the judges and {{lang|la|ex officio}} judges of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories. Hearings are held in Yellowknife, but may be heard anywhere in the territories or in Alberta.{{cite web|url=http://www.nwtcourts.ca/Courts/ca.htm|title=Northwest Territories Courts|website=www.nwtcourts.ca|access-date=September 23, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070627112741/http://www.nwtcourts.ca/Courts/ca.htm|archive-date=June 27, 2007|url-status=dead}}
Current judges
Former chief justices of Alberta
- Arthur Lewis Sifton (1907–1910)
- Horace Harvey (1910–1921, 1924–1949)
- David Lynch Scott (1921–1924)
- George Bligh O'Connor (1950–1957){{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/albertapastprese02blue|title=Alberta, past and present : historical and biographical|first=John|last=Blue|date=August 5, 2018|publisher=Chicago, Ill. : Pioneer Historical|via=Internet Archive}}
- Clinton J. Ford (1957–1961){{cite web |url=http://www.elgin.ca/tweedsmuir/Eden%20Vol%204/page%200045%20-%200050.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=September 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091117070138/http://www.elgin.ca/tweedsmuir/Eden%20Vol%204/page%200045%20-%200050.pdf |archive-date=November 17, 2009 |url-status=dead }}
- Sidney Bruce Smith (1961–1974){{cite web|url=http://sbs.epsb.ca/About_SBS.html|title=S. Bruce Smith- S. Bruce Smith School|website=sbs.epsb.ca}}
- William A. McGillivray (1974–1984)
- James Herbert Laycraft (1984–1991){{cite web |url=http://www.legalarchivessociety.ab.ca/Virtual%20Exhibits/judicial_busts.html |title=LASA Judicial Busts |access-date=September 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619112204/http://www.legalarchivessociety.ab.ca/Virtual%20Exhibits/judicial_busts.html |archive-date=June 19, 2009 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=http://archive.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=6405|title=Order of Canada|first=Government of Canada, Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, Information and Media|last=Services|website=archive.gg.ca}}{{cite web |url=http://www.freemasons.ab.ca/AbFM/ABF0211.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=October 14, 2009 |archive-date=January 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101062203/http://www.freemasons.ab.ca/AbFM/ABF0211.pdf |url-status=dead }}
- Catherine Fraser (1992–2022)
Previous judges
- Ronald Leon Berger (1996-2018)
- Sheilah L. Martin (2016–2017), elevated to the Supreme Court of Canada
- William Alexander Stevenson (1980–1990) elevated to the Supreme Court of Canada
- John Wesley McClung (1980–2004)
- Russell Brown (2014–2015) elevated to the Supreme Court of Canada
- Clifton D O'Brien (2005–2014){{cite news|title=Alberta Judicial Appointments Announced|url=http://www.justice.gc.ca:80/eng/news-nouv/ja-nj/2005/doc_31492.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017084223/http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/news-nouv/ja-nj/2005/doc_31492.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 17, 2009|access-date=September 28, 2009}}
- David C McDonald (1995 - 1996){{cite news|title=Alberta Judicial Appointment Announced|url=http://www.justice.gc.ca:80/en/news/ja/1995/ALTA6.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031111225447/http://www.justice.gc.ca/en/news/ja/1995/ALTA6.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 11, 2003|access-date=July 10, 2019}}{{Cite web|title=David Cargill McDonald {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/david-cargill-mcdonald|access-date=2021-01-11|website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca}}
- Jean E.L. Côté (1987–2015)
- John "Jack" Major (1991–1992), elevated to the Supreme Court of Canada
- Anne Russell (1994–2006)
- (Asa) Milton "Milt" Harradence (1979–1997)
- Charles Allan Stuart (1907–1921 en banc appeals)(1921–1926)
- Allen Borislaw Zenoviy Sulatycky (1997–2000)
- William Robinson Howson (1942–1944)
- Charles Richmond Mitchell (1926–1936)
- Alexander Andrew MacGillivray (1931–1940)
- William Legh Walsh (1931–1931)
- Albert Freeman Ewing (1941–1946)
- James Duncan Hyndman ((1914–1921 en banc appeals)((1921–1928)
- Nicholas Dubois Dominic Beck (1907–1921 en banc appeals) (1921–1928)
- Alfred Henry Clarke (1921–1942)
- William Joseph Haddad (1974–1980)
- Neil C. Wittmann (1999–2004){{cite web|url=http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=1&id=2906|title=Prime Minister of Canada: PM announces Alberta Judicial Appointments|access-date=November 4, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113170946/http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=1&id=2906|archive-date=January 13, 2010|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-insurance-cap-on-soft-tissue-injuries-struck-down-1.712242}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cba.org/Alberta/PDF/NewsletterNov1999.pdf|title=Archived copy|access-date=November 4, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727162027/http://www.cba.org/Alberta/PDF/NewsletterNov1999.pdf|archive-date=July 27, 2011|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/alberta/2009/10/23/11508641.html|title=(no title)|website=Edmonton Sun}}{{cite web|url=http://prejury.law.ualberta.ca/alri/About-ALRI/Staff--Board-Profiles/Mr.-Justice-Neil-C.-Wittmann.php|title=Alberta Law Reform Institute|access-date=November 4, 2009|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130424114149/http://prejury.law.ualberta.ca/alri/About-ALRI/Staff--Board-Profiles/Mr.-Justice-Neil-C.-Wittmann.php|archive-date=April 24, 2013|url-status=dead}}
- Frank C. Ford (1936–1954){{cite web|url=http://www.ualbertacentennial.ca/organization/chancellors/ford.html|title=University of Alberta: Frank Ford (1942–1946)|website=www.ualbertacentennial.ca}}{{cite web|url=http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/civil/coronafire/coronafire_people_ford.htm|title=Albertasource.ca Alberta's Online Encyclopedia|website=www.albertasource.ca}}
- Harold Hayward Parlee (1945–1954){{cite web|url=http://www.ualbertacentennial.ca/organization/governance/board_of_governors.html|title=University of Alberta: Board of Governors|website=www.ualbertacentennial.ca}}{{cite web|url=http://www.lawsocietyalberta.com/lsa-ar/page14.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080402055040/http://www.lawsocietyalberta.com/lsa-ar/page14.html|archive-date=April 2, 2008|title=Law Society of Alberta - 2006 Annual Report }}
- James Mitchell Cairns (1965–1977){{cite web|url=http://www.calgary.ca/DocGallery/BU/cityclerks/c.pdf|title=Archived copy|access-date=October 9, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611045535/http://www.calgary.ca/DocGallery/BU/cityclerks/c.pdf|archive-date=June 11, 2011|url-status=dead}}
- Carole M. Conrad (1992–2014){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YKfRprwXDboC&q=Justice+carole+m+Conrad+Alberta&pg=PA275|title = Canadian Who's Who 2005|isbn = 9780802089076|last1 = Lumley|first1 = Elizabeth|date = April 2005| publisher=University of Toronto Press }}
- John David Bracco (1987–19??){{cite web|url=http://jdbracco.epsb.ca/history.htm|title=John D. Bracco History|access-date=September 27, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706175959/http://jdbracco.epsb.ca/history.htm|archive-date=July 6, 2011|url-status=dead}}
- Roger Philip Kerans (1980–1997){{cite web|url=http://adrchambersinternational.com/cvkerans.htm|title=ADR Chambers International - Panel Member|access-date=September 28, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905213834/http://www.adrchambersinternational.com/cvkerans.htm|archive-date=September 5, 2008|url-status=dead}}
- Mary Margaret McCormick Hetherington (1985–2001){{cite web|url=http://adrchambersinternational.com/cvhetherington.htm|title=ADR Chambers International - Panel Member|access-date=September 28, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905214134/http://www.adrchambersinternational.com/cvhetherington.htm|archive-date=September 5, 2008|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pbla.ca/library/attachment.135477|title=Archived copy|access-date=November 4, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706192850/http://www.pbla.ca/library/attachment.135477|archive-date=July 6, 2011|url-status=dead}}
- Willis O'Leary (1994–2006){{cite web|url=http://adrchambersinternational.com/cvoleary.htm|title=ADR Chambers International - Panel Member|access-date=September 28, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905212856/http://www.adrchambersinternational.com/cvoleary.htm|archive-date=September 5, 2008|url-status=dead}}
- Samuel Sereth Lieberman (1976–1997){{cite web|url=http://adrchambersinternational.com/cvlieberman.htm|title=ADR Chambers International - Panel Member|access-date=September 28, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204151532/http://www.adrchambersinternational.com/cvlieberman.htm|archive-date=December 4, 2008|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://www.lieutenantgovernor.ab.ca/aoe/2006_lieberman.cfm|title=LG - 404 Error|website=www.lieutenantgovernor.ab.ca}}
- Neil Douglas McDermid (1963–1986){{cite web|url=http://www.calgary.ca/DocGallery/BU/cityclerks/caldermen.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927221722/http://www.calgary.ca/DocGallery/BU/cityclerks/caldermen.pdf |archive-date=September 27, 2007 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.archivescanada.ca/english/search/ItemDisplay.asp?sessionKey=999999999_142&l=0&lvl=1&v=0&coll=0&itm=136794&rt=1&bill=1|title=Archived copy|access-date=October 9, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725185227/http://www.archivescanada.ca/english/search/ItemDisplay.asp?sessionKey=999999999_142&l=0&lvl=1&v=0&coll=0&itm=136794&rt=1&bill=1|archive-date=July 25, 2011|url-status=dead}}
- James Boyd McBride (1957–1959){{cite web|url=http://www.albertasource.ca/lawcases/civil/babiesexport/babiesexport_people_mcbride.htm|title=Albertasource.ca Alberta's Online Encyclopedia|website=www.albertasource.ca}}
- Hugh John MacDonald (1957–1960){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aZz213hdj3EC&q=Hugh+John+MacDonald+Justice+Alberta&pg=PA225|title = Lords of the North|isbn = 9781896182711|last1 = McDonell|first1 = James K.|last2 = Campbell|first2 = Robert Bennett|year = 1997| publisher=GeneralStore PublishingHouse }}{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofunivers0000john|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofunivers0000john/page/363 363]|quote=Hugh John MacDonald Justice Alberta.|title = A History of the University of Alberta, 1908–1969|publisher=University of Alberta|isbn = 9780888640253|last1 = Johns|first1 = Walter Hugh|year = 1981}}
- René Paul Foisy (1987–1999)
- William George Morrow (1976–1979){{cite web|url=http://specialcollections.ucalgary.ca/manuscript-collections/canadian-historical-archives-/wg-morrow-fonds|title=Archives and Special Collections - University of Calgary -|website=specialcollections.ucalgary.ca}}{{cite book|title=Northern Justice: The Memoirs of Mr Justice William G. Morrow|first1=Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal|last1=History|first2=Legal Archives Society of|last2=Alberta|first3=search|last3=results|date=December 1, 1995|publisher=Univ of Toronto Pr|isbn = 0802007880}}
- Adelle Fruman (1998–2007){{cite web|url=http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/conf/conf2002/en/bio.html|title=Fourth International Conference on Law via the Internet - Bibliographical Notes|access-date=November 4, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080811054049/http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/conf/conf2002/en/bio.html|archive-date=August 11, 2008|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://ccca.dgtlpub.com/2008/2008-10-31/pdf/where_the_grass_is_greener.pdf|title=Archived copy|access-date=November 4, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215152557/http://ccca.dgtlpub.com/2008/2008-10-31/pdf/where_the_grass_is_greener.pdf|archive-date=February 15, 2010|url-status=dead}}
- Horace Gilchrist Johnson (1954–1973){{cite web|url=http://www.registrar.ualberta.ca/ro.cfm?id=536|title=List of Law Nomination Scholarships - Office of the Registrar - University of Alberta|website=www.registrar.ualberta.ca}}
- William Alexander MacDonald (1944–1957)
- Gordon Hollis Allen (1966–1978)
- Joseph John Walter Stratton (1987–1995)
- Arnold Fraser Moir (1973–1979)
- Carlton Ward Clement (1970–1982)
- Marshall Menzies Porter (1954–1969)
- Howard Lawrence Irving (1985–1999)
- Henry William Lunney (1928–1944)
- William Robert Sinclair (1973–1979)
- David Clifton Prowse (1972–1979)
- Roger Hector Belzil (1981–1996)
- E.W.S Kane (1961–1974)
See also
References
{{Full citations needed|date=August 2018}}
{{reflist}}
=Sources=
- {{cite book |last1=Knafla |first1=Louis A. |last2=Klumpenhouwer |first2=Richard |title=Lords of the Western Bench: A Biographical History of the Supreme and District Courts of Alberta, 1876-1990 |date=1997 |publisher=Legal Archives Society of Alberta |location=Calgary |isbn=978-0-9681939-0-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/lordsofwesternbe0000knaf |url-access=registration}}
- {{cite book |last1=Mittelstadt |first1=David |title=People Principles Progress: The Alberta Court of Appeal's First Century 1914 to 2014 |date=2014 |publisher=The Legal Archives Society of Alberta |location=Calgary |isbn=978-0-9681939-5-2 |url=https://albertacourts.ca/docs/default-source/ca/centennial-book---people-principles-progress.pdf?}}
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Swainger |editor1-first=Jonathan Scott |title=The Alberta Supreme Court at 100: History & Authority |date=2007 |publisher=University of Alberta Press |location=Edmonton |isbn=978-0-88864-493-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/albertasupremeco00swai |url-access=registration}}
External links
- {{official website}}
- [http://www.justice.gov.ab.ca/courts/Default.aspx Government of Alberta Justice and Attorney General Courts]
- [https://albertacourts.ca/docs/default-source/ca/mcclung.pdf?sfvrsn=1d40d980_0 History of the Alberta Court of Appeal], by the late J.W. (Buzz) McClung, Justice of Appeal, n. d.
- [https://albertacourts.ca/ca/about/history-of-the-court-of-appeal/centennial-book Overview:] People, principles, progress. The Alberta Court of Appeal's first century 1914 to 2014, Centennial Book, by David Mittelstadt, n. d.
{{Courts of Canada}}
{{Canada topic|Chief Justice of}}