Although Quebec is a civil law jurisdiction, it does not follow the pattern of other civil law systems which have court systems divided by subject matter. Instead, the court system follows the English model of unitary courts with general jurisdiction. The provincial courts have jurisdiction to decide matters under
provincial law as well as
federal law, including
civil matters,
criminal matters and
constitutional matters. The major exception to the principle of general jurisdiction is that the
Federal Court and
Federal Court of Appeal have exclusive jurisdiction over some areas of federal law, such as review of federal administrative bodies, federal taxes, and matters relating to national security. All courts, whether federal or provincial, are protected by the principle of
judicial independence. The Supreme Court has held that judicial independence is a fundamental constitutional principle. The courts must have complete freedom to decide cases which come before them based on the law and the facts, without any political interference. The federal and provincial governments have legislative authority with respect to court structure and court administration, but the core function of deciding cases is reserved to the courts. The Quebec courts are organized in a pyramid. At the bottom, there are the
municipal courts, the Professions Tribunal, the Human Rights Tribunal, and administrative tribunals. Decisions of those bodies can be reviewed by the two trial courts, the
Court of Quebec the
Superior Court of Quebec. The Court of Quebec is also the main criminal trial court, and also a court for small civil claims. The Superior Court is a trial court of general jurisdiction, in both criminal and civil matters. The decisions of those courts can be appealed to the
Quebec Court of Appeal. Finally, if the case is of great importance, it may be appealed to the
Supreme Court of Canada, which is a court of general appeal, with jurisdiction over all legal issues which can arise in the lower courts. The
Parliament of Canada has legislative authority over the Supreme Court and other federal courts, subject to the principle of judicial independence. The federal government pays the judges of those courts and provides the necessary administrative supports, such as court employees and courthouses. The federal government also appoints the judges of the Quebec Court of Appeal and the Superior Court, pays their salaries, and has exclusive power to remove them from office. Although the judges of these courts are appointed and paid by the federal government, it is the government of Quebec which is responsible for laws regulating the court structure and the necessary administrative supports for the court system. The three main courts are the Court of Appeal, the Superior Court and the Quebec Court. Of these, the Court of Appeal serves two purposes. First, it is the general court of appeal for all legal issues from the lower courts. It hears appeals from the trial decisions of the Superior Court and the Quebec Court. It also can hear appeals from decisions rendered by those two courts on appeals or judicial review matters relating to the municipal courts and administrative tribunals. Second, but much more rarely, the Court of Appeal possesses the power to respond to
reference questions posed to it by the
Quebec Cabinet. The Court of Appeal renders more than 1,500 judgments per year. The Superior Court of Quebec has the inherent power to rule on all cases other than those where jurisdiction is assigned to another court or tribunal. This means that the Superior Court has the power to hear certain civil claims under the
Civil Code of Quebec, determine matters under family law, including under the federal
Divorce Act, and hear
class actions. It also has jurisdiction to hear appeals and judicial review applications from lower courts and administrative tribunals. The Superior Court is also a court of criminal jurisdiction under the federal
Criminal Code. It is the trial court for the most serious criminal offences, and also is the appellate court from criminal decisions of the Quebec Court. The Court of Quebec is a court of statutory jurisdiction, rather than a court of general jurisdiction. However, its criminal law jurisdiction is very extensive, as all but the most serious criminal cases are heard by the Court of Quebec. In addition, the Court of Quebec is made up of three chambers: the Youth Division, the Criminal and Penal Division and the Civil Division. The Civil Division includes the
small claims division. Until recently, the Court of Quebec had exclusive jurisdiction over all civil matters where the amount in issue was under $85,000, but the Supreme Court of Canada has held that it is unconstitutional to assign exclusive jurisdiction over those matters to the Court of Quebec and take that jurisdiction away from the Superior Court. The municipal courts, the Human Rights Tribunal, and the Professions Tribunal are all trial courts. Their powers are limited to the powers that are given to them by the statute which created them. Quebec has a large number of administrative tribunals responsible for seeing to the application of one or more laws. In total, the Quebec judicial system has more than 500 judges. Nearly 300 of them work in the provincial courts, 25 at the Court of Appeal and nearly 200 at the Superior Court. == Lawyers ==