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Nelson Education > School > Business Studies > All About Law > Student Centre > E-Activies > Chapter 4
 

Unit 2: Criminal Law

CHAPTER 4: CRIMINAL LAW AND CRIMINAL OFFENCES

E-ACTIVITY: THE FEDERAL COURT OF CANADA (p. 115)

Activity: Analyze the Case of a Federal Court Decision

The Federal Court came into existence on June 1, 1971. It is a bilingual court having jurisdiction in both common law and civil law. In this activity, you will analyze a decision made by this powerful court. In preparation, find out more about the work of the Federal Court by completing Question 1.

  1. Visit the Federal Court of Canada Web site to learn more about its jurisdiction. After reading the opening summary, click on "About the Court" and then "Jurisdiction."

    • Explain the term "jurisdiction."
    • Courts receive their jurisdiction through statutes, or laws enacted by Parliament. Identify some of the statutes that confer jurisdiction on the Federal Court.
    • Where is the Federal Court located?
    • What does it mean that the Federal Court is an itinerant court?
    • Explain the jurisdiction of the trial division of the Federal Court.
    • Explain the jurisdiction of the court generally.

  2. Prepare a case analysis of a particular Federal Court decision: The Minister of Citizenship and Immigration v. Mohammad Iqbal. In this case, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration made application to the court to nullify the ruling of a judicial review of a refugee determination. You can read about the case in an online summary of the judicial review on the Federal Court's Web site.

    Use the following case-analysis organizer to summarize the case. Click here if you would like to download the case analysis organizer.
Step
What You Need to Do
Your Answer
Name of case Give the complete case name indicating all parties. Ensure the appropriate format is used, depending on whether the case is civil or criminal.  
Name of court Refer to the name and particular level of court where the case is heard.  
Citation This is the legal case reference from the law-reporting series or an online site. Use this complete and accurate citation when first referring to the case. The legal case reference should be a neutral citation.  
Summary of key facts Summarize the key facts and events of the case in one to two paragraphs. Make sure all the information you include is legally relevant.  
Applicable laws Refer to the legislation that was at issue, for example, section 235 of the Criminal Code or section 11(d) of the Charter.  
Issue Identify the issues to be decided by the court in a clear and concise manner, and express these issues in question format. For example,
- Was the search unreasonable and therefore a violation of section 8 of the Charter? - Did provocation occur, and, if so, should the charge be reduced from murder to manslaughter?		  
Case decision or judgment Identify the decision of the court, for example, the appeal was allowed, a new trial was ordered, the accused was found guilty of the crime, and so on.  
Reason for the decision or judgment State the rationale for the judgment by clearly summarizing the factors considered by the judge in his or her decision.