Ontario Superior Court of Justice
| Ontario Superior Court of Justice Cour supérieure de justice de l'Ontario (French) |
|
|---|---|
| Established | 1999 |
| Country |
 Canada
|
| Composition method | appointed by the federal government |
| Authorized by | inherent jurisdiction at common law |
| Decisions are appealed to | Court of Appeal for Ontario |
| Judge term length | mandatory retirement by age of 75 |
| Number of positions | Over 300 |
| Website | http://www.ontariocourts.on.ca/scj/en/ |
| Chief Justice | |
| Currently | Heather Forster Smith |
| Since | 2002 |
The Superior Court of Justice (French: Cour supérieure de justice de l'Ontario) is a superior court in Ontario. The Court sits in 52 locations across the province, including 17 Family Court locations and consists of over 300 justices.
In 1999, the Superior Court of Justice was renamed from the Ontario Court of Justice (General Division). The Superior Court is one of two divisions of the Court of Ontario. The other division is the lower court, the Ontario Court of Justice. The Superior Court has three specialized branches: Divisional Court, Small Claims Court, and Family Court.
The Superior Court has inherent jurisdiction over civil, criminal, and family law matters at common law. Although the Court has inherent jurisdiction, the authority of the Court has been entrenched in the Canadian Constitution.
The Superior Court of Justice has three branches:
The Divisional Court hears appeals from some judgments and orders of judges of the Superior Court of Justice and reviews or hears appeals from decisions of administrative tribunals. It hears all appeals from a final order of the Superior Court where the award does not exceed $50,000.00. The Divisional Court also hears appeals from Small Claims Court judgments exceeding $2,500.00 (there is no statutory right of appeal from a Small Claims Court judgment of less than $2,500.00). The Divisional Court consists of the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Justice, who is president of the court, and such other judges of the Superior Court as the Chief Justice designates from time to time. Hearings take place before a panel of three judges except in the case of appeals from the Small Claims Court which take place before a single judge. The Divisional Court is a descendant of the court of the same name in England, which is part of the Queen's Bench division of the English High Court of Justice, and hears certain appeals.
The Small Claims Court has jurisdiction in civil matters where the amount in issue does not exceed $25,000.00 exclusive of interest and costs. The monetary jurisdiction of this court is fixed by regulation, rising to the current limit from $10,000 on January 1, 2010. The majority of Small Claims Court matters are heard by deputy judges, lawyers who have been appointed for a period of three years by the Regional Senior Justice to hear such cases. As result of court reform, no new full-time judges have been appointed by the provincial government to preside in Small Claims Court. Proceedings in the Small Claims Court are governed by a codified set of rules contained in O. Reg. 258/98 (as amended), the Rules of the Small Claims Court, instead of the complex Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure.
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