The English court system was brought to British Columbia when the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia were founded in the middle of the nineteenth century. The laws of England were adopted by British Columbia after the two colonies were joined, by the proclamation of Governor Sir James Douglas on 19 November 1858. Our local court system was brought into the Canadian system when British Columbia entered Confederation in 1871.

The fundamental purpose of the courts today is the same as it was then: to resolve people's legal disputes. We still use a lot of the same terms that were used hundreds of years ago — there's even a court form called a Petition — although we have merged the different types of courts into a single system with the authority to decide every sort of legal problem.