Introduction
The justice systems in the United States and Canada are both quite significant and interesting. In both countries, the independence of the judicial systems is a fundamental prerequisite to justice. Both the Canadian and American legal bodies are independent and this independence is taken as the basic requirement for people to get justice from these institutions. It is important to note that the justice systems of both Canada and the United States of America are based on the common law (Thomas & Biette, 2014). However, the two countries have significant differences in terms of the nature of their justice systems. This paper gives the comparison and contrast between the Canadian and American justice systems.
Substantive law
It has to be understood that substantive law refers to the statutory laws, which deal with the matters of legal relationships between people and the state. The state, in this case, means the three arms of government. Therefore substantive law simply gives the rules regarding the rights and duties of people as well as the government.
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Both Canada and the United States of America have the Constitution, which is regarded as the supreme law. The Constitution of Canada based on both codified and uncodified acts, traditions and conventional practices. Canada’s Constitution Act 1867 gives the structure of the roles of the government towards its people, both at the federal and provincial levels. Canada’s Constitution Act of 1982 has the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that serve as the bill of rights. This bill of rights states the liberties and duties of people of Canada. It is worthy to note that the legal system of Canada is based on the British common law tradition.
On the other hand, the United States of America has a Constitution that was also derived from the British common law tradition. The basis for the United States Constitution includes the laws made by the Congress and the international treaties to which the country is party. This Constitution forms the substantive laws under the bill of rights, where the rights and duties of American citizens are enshrined.
Procedural law
It is important to note that the procedural law refers to the set of rules, which are used to govern the enforcement of the Constitution by the various justice systems. For instance, the procedural law states the rules governing the proceedings of courts during the criminal lawsuits. These laws give the due process of enforcing the provisions of the Constitution.
The procedural laws of Canada are quite similar to those of the United States of America. In both countries, the procedural laws are contained in the Constitution, which is the supreme law. For instance, the justice systems of both the U.S and Canada operate based on the law that every crime suspect I assumed innocent until proved guilty before the court of law.
Judicial review
The court system of Canada is comprised of numerous courts, which differ in their levels of superiority. These many courts are separated by their jurisdiction. Some of the courts in Canada are federal in nature. Others are provincial or territorial in nature. It is important to note that the court system in Canada is made up of a four-level hierarchy. Every court is bound by rulings of a higher one in terms of the level of hierarchy. Criminal laws are taken charge of by the federal courts while the civil rules are under the custody of the provincial courts.
In the United States of America, the state courts are not subordinate to the federal courts. It is also important to note that the U.S federal courts have limited jurisdiction since they can only hear cases arising from issues to do with the Constitution. However, the state courts hear any cases, thus, have no limited jurisdiction. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has the powers of overruling decisions made by the state courts after all the judicial avenues have been exhausted.
Policing systems
The police services are in charge of the policing function in both Canada and the U.S. It is vital to note that Canada has just below 235 police services while the United States has over 18,000 of them. In the U.S.A., many of the police services are largely comprised of small units with limited capacity, training chances and level of expertise.
Canada spends about $13 billion on policing with $1 billion of it spent on training the police officers. The United States of America does spend a lot on policing, particularly training. In Canada, all ticket revenues go back to the government. However, all ticket revenues go directly to financing the police activities in the United States.
International police cooperation
It is important to note that international police function in Canada is a shared activity among the law enforcement agencies. However, the duty of international policing is largely taken by Canada’s federal police unit known as Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). In the United States, the role of international policing is done by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA (Deflem, 2001).
Conclusion
It has been established through this paper that there are huge similarities between the justice systems of Canada and the United States. However, significant differences do exist in the justice systems of the two countries, particularly in the area of local and international policing functions. It has also been established that the court systems of Canada and United States are quite different in term of structure and jurisdictions.
References
Deflem, M. (2001). International police cooperation in Northern America: A review of practices, strategies, and goals in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. International police cooperation: A world perspective , 71-98.
Thomas, D. M., & Biette, D. N. (Eds.). (2014). Canada and the United States: differences that count . Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
