List of Canadian appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council explained

This is a comprehensive list of cases originating in Canada decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, in Britain.

From 1867 to 1949, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was the highest court of appeal for Canada (and, separately, for Newfoundland, which did not join Canada as a province until 1949). During this period, its decisions on Canadian appeals were binding precedent on all Canadian courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Any decisions from this era that the Supreme Court of Canada has not overruled since gaining appellate supremacy in 1949 remain good law, and continue to bind all Canadian courts other than the Supreme Court.^[1] As Canada's ultimate judicial authority for most of its first century as a country following Confederation, the Judicial Committee had a considerable influence on the development of Canadian law, particularly constitutional law, where the living tree doctrine first laid down in Edwards v Canada (AG) remains a defining feature of Canadian constitutional interpretation.^{[2] [3]}

The Parliament of Canada abolished appeals to the Judicial Committee of criminal cases in 1933^[4] and civil cases in 1949.^[5] Ongoing cases that had begun before those dates remained appealable to the Judicial Committee.^[6] The final Judicial Committee ruling on a Canadian case was rendered in 1959, in Ponoka-Calmar Oils v Wakefield, an appeal from the Supreme Court.

1867–1869

List of cases

For a detailed list of all cases during this period, please see: List of Canadian appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, 1867–1869.

Summary by year and result

Year	Number of Cases	Appeal Allowed		Appeal Dismissed
1867	6	3	50%	3	50%
1868	2	1	50%	1	50%
1869	2	1	50%	1	50%
Total Cases	10	5	50.0%	5	50.0%
Yearly Averages	3.3	1.7	1.7

Summary by province

Province	Number of Cases
Ontario	0
Quebec	9
Nova Scotia	1
New Brunswick	0
Total	10

1870–1879

List of cases

For a detailed list of all cases during this period, please see: List of Canadian appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, 1870–1879.

Summary by year and result

Year	Number of Cases	Appeal Allowed		Appeal Dismissed
1870	4	2	50.0%	2	50.0%
1871	1	0	0.0%	1	100.0%
1872	7	2	28.6%	5	71.4%
1873	13	7	53.8%	6	46.2%
1874	12	7	58.3%	5	41.7%
1875	7	3	42.9%	4	57.1%
1876	10	3	30.0%	7	70%
1877	4	2	50.0%	2	50.0%
1878	7	0	0.0%	7	100.0%
1879	3	0	0.0%	3	100.0%
Total Cases	68	26	38.2%	42	61.8%
Yearly Averages	6.8	2.6	4.2

Summary by province and court appealed from

Province	Number of Cases	On Appeal from Supreme Court of Canada		On Appeal from Provincial Courts
Ontario	2	0	0.0%	2	100.0%
Quebec	56	2	3.6%	54	96.4%
Nova Scotia	6	0	0.0%	6	100.0%
New Brunswick	4	0	0.0%	4	100.0%
Manitoba	0	0	0.0%	0	0.0%
British Columbia	0	0	0.0%	0	0.0%
Prince Edward Island	0	0	0.0%	0	0.0%
Total	68	2	3.0%	66	97.0%

1880–1889

List of cases

For a detailed list of all cases during this period, please see: List of Canadian appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, 1880–1889.

Summary by year and result

Year	Number of Cases	Appeal Allowed		Appeal Dismissed
1880	5	2	40.0%	3	60.0%
1881	3	2	66.7%	1	33.3%
1882	5	2	40.0%	3	60%
1883	11	7	63.6%	4	36.4%
1884	4	1	25.0%	3	75.0%
1885	5	1	20.0%	4	80.0%
1886	9	3	33.3%	6	66.7%
1887	6	2	33.3%	4	66.7%
1888	8	0	0.0%	8	100.0%
1889	10	2	20.0%	8	80.0%
Total Cases	66	22	33.3%	44	66.7%
Yearly Averages	6.6	2.2	4.4

Summary by jurisdiction and court appealed from

Jurisdiction	Number of Cases	On Appeal from Supreme Court of Canada		On Appeal from Other Courts
Federal	3	3	100.0%	0	0.0%
Ontario	17	12	70.6%	5	29.4%
Quebec	31	8	25.8%	23	74.2%
Nova Scotia	8	1	12.5%	7	87.5%
New Brunswick	5	3	60.0%	2	40.0%
Manitoba	1	0	0.0%	1	100.0%
British Columbia	0	0	0.0%	0	0.0%
Prince Edward Island	0	0	0.0%	0	0.0%
North-West Territories

||style="text-align: center;"|14||style="text-align: center;"|2||style="text-align: center;"|14.3%||style="text-align: center;"|11||style="text-align: center;"|78.6%|-|style="text-align: center;"|1928||style="text-align: center;"|16||style="text-align: center;"|5||style="text-align: center;"|31.3%||style="text-align: center;"|11||style="text-align: center;"|68.7%|-|style="text-align: center;"|1929||style="text-align: center;"|15||style="text-align: center;"|7||style="text-align: center;"|46.7%||style="text-align: center;"|8||style="text-align: center;"|53.3%|-|Total Cases ||style="text-align: center;"|174||style="text-align: center;"|69||style="text-align: center;"|39.7% ||style="text-align: center;"|104||style="text-align: center;"|59.8%|-|Yearly Averages ||style="text-align: center;"|17.4||colspan=2 style="text-align: center;"|6.9||colspan=2 style="text-align: center;"|10.4|-|}

Summary by jurisdiction and court appealed from

Notes and References

1. Debra Parks, Precedent Unbound? Contemporary Approaches to Precedent in Canada (Vancouver: UBC Allard Faculty Publications, 2007), p.3, at https://commons.allard.ubc.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1232&context=fac_pubs
2. James G. Snell and Frederick Vaughan, The Supreme Court of Canada: History of the Institution (Toronto: Osgoode Society, 1985), pp. 4–9, 42.
3. Catharine MacMillan, "Canadian Cases before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council", at Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Case papers, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London, last updated February 17, 2021.
4. Criminal Code Amendment Act S.C. 1932–33, c. 53, s. 17
5. Supreme Court Amendment Act, S.C. 1949 (2nd. session), c. 37, s. 3
6. Bora Laskin, The Hamlyn Lectures, Twenty-First Series: The British Tradition in Canadian Law (London: Stevens & Sons, 1969), pp. 1–3, at https://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/media/universityofexeter/schoolofhumanitiesandsocialsciences/law/pdfs/The_British_Tradition_in_Canadian_law.pdf