1

STATUTE LAW IN CANADA

Law 12Mr. Laberee

2

Once upon a time…. Well, 1215 CE to be exact

King John s igned the Magna Carta . H is s ignature forced h imsel f and

everyone who fo l lowed h im to OBEY the law.

Unfor tunate ly fights be tween h i s successors & the Barons cont… The Barons revo l ted aga ins t K ing Henry I I I and fo rced h im to re fo rm the law a l low ing Par lements o r Par l i aments

I hate youYou suck

England mine!

P a r l i a m e n t s r o l e w a s t o h e l p t h e K i n g m a k e l a w s

3

The laws passed by are called statutes.

All the laws passed by together make up Statute Law

How does it differ from Common Law you ask?

Common Law can not address every legal situation. Statutes fill in the gaps and set the parameters in which Common Law can develop

What does this have to do with Statute Law you ask?

4

I STILL DON’T SEE THE DIF BETWEEN COMMON LAW AND STATUTE LAW…

Two main ways they differ: Common Law is a collection of court

decisions that over time create precedent.

Statute Law is law created by the government. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy.

5

WHAT IS CANADIAN STATUTE LAW? Law set down by a Parliament (Ottawa or Victoria) Currently, the most important source of Canadian

law May create entirely new laws or over-rule, modify, or

repeal existing laws. Often referred to as “Acts of Parliament”

6

CREATING AND CHANGING STATUTE LAW The process to change existing statues

is the same as to create new ones Any proposed bill that passes replaces

any that came before, if they conflict In other words, the newest version of a law

prevails Laws passed by parliament can only be

overridden by parliament, and laws created by provincial legislatures can only be overridden by that same legislature

7

PROCESS FOR MAKING STATUTE LAW First reading: a bill is proposed by a member of parliament

(MP) to the House of Commons and the first vote is taken Most bills come forward from the cabinet and are called

“government bills” Bills that don’t come from the cabinet are called “private

members’ bills” – very few of these pass! If the bill has enough support to pass first reading, it

moves onto…

8

Second reading: the bill is introduced again, debated upon, and then a second vote is taken The first reading indicates that, in principle, the

MPs think the proposed law is a good idea Second reading is where they get into debating the

substance of the bill: details, wording, costs, etc. During second reading, many bills are referred to…

Committee stage: a committee of MPs is formed; the bill is studied, research is conducted, experts are consulted, and amendments are made to the bill

9

When the committee has finished, or, if the bill passed second reading without being sent to committee, it moves onto…

Third reading: the bill is briefly debated and third vote is taken This is “final approval” from Members of Parliament

If the vote is successful, the bill is sent to the Senate, where the whole process is repeated Bills can also start in the Senate and then go to the House of

Commons , but this is very rare

10

Finally, the Governor General (GG) signs the bill into law once it has passed in the House and Senate

In provincial legislatures, the process is the same, but there is no senate at that level, so the bill only needs to pass through the legislature The provincial equivalent of the

Governor General is the Lieutenant Governor (LG)

Once the GG or LG signs a bill, it becomes law