(3)
(a) United States has dual sovereignty: both federal government and states are sovereign. (The latter is sovereign because prior to the forming of the United States, the thirteen colonies declared independence from UK to create 13 sovereigns. The English word sovereign may be an adjective or a noun.) I will use Massachusetts as an example to explain judiciaries on this state.
Firstly Massachusetts has its own state court, from Supreme Judicial Court down to Appeals Court to trial courts (there are numerous: Superior Court, District Court, Family and Probate Court, Juvenile Court, Housing Court and Land Court; Superior Court handles serious crimes, civil disputes of larger sums and appeal from bail hearings at District Court). Secondly there are federal courts on or in Massachusetts (United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (based in Boston), United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, United States Bankruptcy Court and United States Tax Court). A person charged (by ederal prosecutors) can only be tried in federal district court. And yet both federal and state courts may handle civil cases arising out of federal law (depending on where a plaintiff files his case).
(b) Canada is similar (as I learn just now; I am unfamiliar with court system in England).
(i) View from the perspective of British Columbia, a province of Canada (setting aside Canada's federal courts for a moment).
(A) The Courts of British Columbia. Undated
https://www.courts.gov.bc.ca
("The Court of Appeal is the highest court in the province * * * The Supreme Court is the superior trial court for the province and hears both civil and criminal cases, as well as some appeals from the Provincial Court")
(B) About the Court. Provincial Court of British Columbia, undated
http://www.provincialcourt.bc.ca/about-the-court
("Most of the court cases in British Columbia are heard in Provincial Court")
is akin to state district court in Massachusetts.
(ii) View from national level down to provincial level.
court system of Canada
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_system_of_Canada
("Some of the courts are federal in nature, while others are provincial or territorial. The Canadian constitution gives the federal government the exclusive right to legislate criminal law, while the provinces have exclusive control [legislation] over civil law. The provinces have jurisdiction over the administration of justice in their territory. Almost all cases, whether criminal or civil, start in provincial courts and may be eventually appealed to higher level courts. The quite small system of federal courts only hears cases concerned with matters which are under exclusive federal control, such as federal taxation, federal administrative agencies, intellectual property, some portions of competition law and certain aspects of national security. he federal government appoints and pays for both the judges of the federal courts and the judges of the superior and appellate level courts of each province. The provincial governments are responsible for appointing judges of the lower provincial courts. Very generally speaking, Canada's court system is a four-level hierarchy, as shown below from highest to lowest in terms of legal authority. Each court is bound by the rulings of the courts above them; however, they are not bound by the rulings of other courts at the same level in the hierarchy. Civil courts in Quebec, in particular, are under no obligation to apply in judicial precedent—the principle of stare decisis—which is the general rule elsewhere in Canada. This is because Quebec's civil law is entirely codified, while civil law in the other nine provinces grew out of the English common law")
(A) The four levels are: section 1.2 Supreme Court of Canada; section 1.3 Appellate courts of the provinces and territories (say, British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) ); section 1.4 Superior-level courts of the provinces and territories (say, British Columbia Supreme Court (BCSC) ); section 1.5 Provincial and territorial ("inferior") courts. Then there is an additional section 1.6 Federal courts. See chart in this Wiki page.
(B) Generally, in US jurisdictions Court of Appeals has an s at the end of appeal, but no s in Appeal Court.
(C) The sentence about Quebec in the quotation is poorly written. Jurisdictions in the United States follows common law (海洋法系： 台湾; originating from England) except Louisiana (where criminal matters follow civil law (大陆法系： 台湾; through French (as well as Spanish) law from Roman Empire) whereas civil matters 民事, common law). Quebec is that rare bird in Canada whose criminal matters follows civil law and civil matters, common law. Further,
(D) The concept and term stare decisis
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stare_decisis
Etymology: Latin verb stāre stand)
appears in common law only. In civil law, precedents influence, but do not bind, lower courts. en.wikipedia.org for "stare decisis."
(c) Thus in theory, crown prosecutors could have appealed, or can appeal, to BCCA. See, eg,
Vancouver Condo Developer One Step Closer to Extradition on US Fraud Allegations. Vancouver Sun, Mar 9, 2018
https://vancouversun.com/news/lo ... s-fraud-allegations
("While Thursday's extradition hearing concerned the alleged conduct of Vancouver developer Mark John Chandler * * * BC Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Duncan said Thursday morning in her reasons for ordering Chandler committed [denied bail] for extradition. Chandler, 54, stood in the prisoner's dock while Duncan advised him of his right to appeal, then he was handcuffed by a sheriff who escorted him out of the courtroom. Chandler's lawyer Michael Bolton immediately filed a notice of appeal, and an hour later, Bolton and a lawyer for the Government of Canada were upstairs before a BC Court of Appeal judge, arguing over whether Chandler should be released on bail pending his appeal on the committal order. * * * B.C. Court of Appeal Justice Peter Willcock * * * ordered Chandler's interim release on a $500,000 surety, more than four years after Chandler was first arrested in 2013 in connection with the alleged California real estate investment scheme")
The term "interim release" is the official appellation in CANADA to mean allowing bail pending appeal in criminal matters, whether extradition is concerned o not.
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发表于 12-12-2018 14:11:51
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