The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal or ONCA) is the

appellate court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

for the province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law Society of Ontario and the Divisional Court of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

Description

The

Court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

is composed of 22 judicial seats, in addition to one or more justices who sit supernumerary. They hear over 1,500 appeals each year, on issues of

private law Private law is that part of a civil law legal system which is part of the '' jus commune'' that involves relationships between individuals, such as the law of contracts and torts (as it is called in the common law), and the law of obligations ...

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in fe ...

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law ...

administrative law Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are generally referred to as " regulations"), ...

and other matters. The

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

hears appeals from less than 3% of the decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, therefore in a practical sense, the Court of Appeal is the last avenue of appeal for most litigants in Ontario. Among the Court of Appeal's most notable decisions was the 2003 ruling in ''

Halpern v Canada (AG) ''Halpern v Canada (AG)'', 003O.J. No. 2268 is a June 10, 2003 decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in which the Court found that the common law definition of marriage, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman, violated ...

'' that found defining marriage as between one man and one woman to violate Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, legalizing same-sex marriage in Ontario and making Canada the first jurisdiction in the world where same-sex marriage was legalized by a court ruling. Among many judges from the Court who have been elevated to the Supreme Court of Canada are Justices Rosalie Abella, Louise Arbour,

Peter Cory Peter deCarteret Cory, (October 25, 1925 – April 7, 2020) was a puisne judge of the Supreme Court of Canada, from 1989 to 1999. Early life and education Born in Windsor, Ontario, the son of Andrew and Mildred (Beresford Howe) Cory, he was ed ...

, Louise Charron,

Andromache Karakatsanis Andromache Karakatsanis (born October 3, 1955) is a Canadian jurist. She was nominated to the Supreme Court of Canada by Stephen Harper in October 2011. She is the first Greek-Canadian judge on the Court. Early life Karakatsanis was born in To ...

, Bora Laskin,

Michael Moldaver Michael Moldaver (born December 23, 1947) is a former Canadian judge. He was a puisne justice on the Supreme Court of Canada from his 2011 appointment by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper until his retirement in 2022. Before his elevation to ...

, and

Mahmud Jamal Mahmud Jamal (born 1967) is a Canadian jurist serving as a puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada since 2021. Jamal worked as a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt and taught law at McGill University and Osgoode Hall Law School before ...

, as well as Bertha Wilson, who was the first female justice on both the Court of Appeal for Ontario (1975) and the Supreme Court of Canada (1982). The Court of Appeal derives its jurisdiction from Ontario's
Courts of Justice Act
'.

Current judges

Supernumerary Justices

Chief Justices of Ontario

Past judges

Chief Justices of Upper Canada (1792–1841)/Province of Canada (1841–1867)

Notes

References

External links

Court of Appeal for Ontario official site

Ontario Courts website

Plan to webcast Ontario appeal cases delayed
{{Authority control

Appeal Lists of Canadian judges 1867 establishments in Ontario Courts and tribunals established in 1867