| HISTORY/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Dates of founding and/or dissolution:
The Court of Appeal of Alberta was established by the Court of Appeal Act (S.A 1978, c. 50) on June 30, 1979.
Functional responsibility:
The Court of Appeal of Alberta serves as the highest court of appeal within the province, hearing appeals from decisions of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, the Provincial Court of Alberta, and administrative tribunals. It also hears references from the Alberta Minister of Justice and Attorney-General.
Predecessor and successor bodies:
Prior to 1907, appeals from decisions of the lower courts of Alberta were heard by the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories en banc (in other words, a hearing attended by all justices of the Supreme Court).
Using section 16(2) of the federal Alberta Act, the Alberta Legislature passed the Supreme Court Act in 1907 (S.A. 1907, c. 3). This Act disbanded the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories and defined the Supreme Court of Alberta as the superior trial court for criminal and civil matters in Alberta.
Originally, the Supreme Court of Alberta heard trials in addition to appeals of its own decisions. It also heard appeals from the decisions from lower courts (such as the District Court of Alberta and magistrate’s courts). Appeals of Supreme Court decisions were heard en banc, with a quorum set at three justices and no justice hearing appeals on his own judgments. This situation created a backlog of cases for the Supreme Court, so attempts were made as early as 1913 to create a separate division within the Court that would hear appeals only. The court en banc was renamed the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in March 1914 (S.A. 1913, c.9, s.38; O.C. 251/14), and the judges of the Supreme Court were to choose annually a panel of four of their members to act as the Appellate Division for each subsequent calendar year. All justices were still considered ex-officio members so could hear trials as well as appeals. In 1919, the Legislature passed the Judicature Act (S.A. 1919, c.3), officially dividing the Supreme Court into a Trial Division, in which judges heard cases in each judicial district in the province, and an Appellate Division, in which judges heard only appeals while in sittings held at Calgary or Edmonton. The Act was proclaimed on September 15, 1921, taking effect on October 1, 1921.
This structure remained unchanged for over fifty years until, as part of an initiative to modernize the province’s court system, the Alberta Legislature passed the Court of Appeal Act (S.A. 1978, c. 50) in 1978. Under this Act, the name of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of Alberta was changed to the Court of Appeal of Alberta effective June 30, 1979.
Administrative Relationships:
The Court of Appeal of Alberta hears appeals of decisions made by judges in the Provincial Court of Alberta and the Court of Queen’s Bench. Litigants can appeal decisions of the Court of Appeal of Alberta to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Administrative Structure:
Originally comprised of the province’s five Supreme Court justices, the Court of Appeal currently consists of 15 justices including the Chief Justice, who is the senior judicial official in the province, who are appointed by the Government of Canada. Most appeals are heard by a panel of three judges, although the Chief Justice may convene a larger panel if necessary.
The Court of Appeal hears cases in Edmonton and Calgary, and its records are maintained by the court registries of each of those cities. Originally, the Calgary Registry maintained all case files for this Court. When the Trial Division was separated from the Appellate Division in 1919, the Edmonton Registry started a new series of case files at number 1, and the Calgary Registry continued its previously-established case file numbering system that now applied only to cases in Calgary.
Names of Chief Officers:
Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Alberta
Arthur Lewis Sifton, 1907-1910
Horace Harvey, 1910-1921
Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Alberta – Appellate Division
David Lynch Scott, 1921-1924
Horace Harvey, 1924-1949
George Bligh O'Connor, 1950-1957
Clinton J. Ford, 1957-1961
Sidney Bruce Smith, 1961-1974
William A. McGillivray, 1974-1979
Chief Justices of the Court of Appeal of Alberta
William A. McGillivray, 1979-1984
James Herbert Laycraft, 1984-1991
Catherine A. Fraser, 1991-
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