, the court is composed of 22 judicial seats, in addition to 5 justices who currently sit supernumerary. They hear over 1,500 appeals each year, on issues of
private law,
constitutional law,
criminal law,
administrative law and other matters. The
Supreme Court of Canada 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) 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,
Louise Charron,
Andromache Karakatsanis,
Bora Laskin,
Michael Moldaver, and
Mahmud Jamal, 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==