PSYC39H3 Lecture Notes - Canada Act 1982, Lower Canada, Pierre Trudeau
Document Summary
Source of some of today"s lecture: canada"s system of justice, http://www. justice. gc. ca/en/dept/pub/just/02. html. Slide 3: elements of legal systems common to us & canada. Legislators: make the laws: police: enforce the law. Three functional levels of the judiciary (=judges, jury etc;): Appellate (appeal) courts: decide whether a lower court judge erred in applying the law. In extreme cases, they can deal with erroneous facts that were included: but it"s mostly to see if a law was inappropriately applied. Supreme court: interprets the law and decides whether any particular law is unconstitutional: highest court in canada, usually deals w/ cases of national importance. The public: obey the laws and elects lawmakers (i. e. , the canadian parliament) But if you don"t, that"s why we have the criminal justice system to enforce the law onto us. Laws are meant to control or change our behaviour and, unlike rules of morality, they are enforced by the courts.
