Acceso usuarios
Charlie Feldman
The legislative and judicial branches of government are closely linked. Legislation that is passed by parliament becomes the very laws the judiciary must interpret as it rules on criminal and civil matters. But how often does Canada’s highest court cite parliamentary debates and documents in its decisions? In this article, the author examines a 10-year period of Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decisions that cite at least one parliamentary document. Of the 720 SCC judgments from this period, 96 cited a parliamentary document (13.33 per cent). He provides a discussion of which types of documents are cited and also notes the complexities when counting citations and understanding how they might have been used by judges. He concludes with questions for future researchers to consider.
