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→Choosing the law and the court
===Jurisdictional issues===
Because of the rules set out in the ''Constitution Act, 1867'', that we talked about earlier in this section, the federal government has the sole authority to make laws on the following subjects:
Because of the same statute, provincial governments have exclusive authority to make laws dealing with these subjects:
To further complicate things, the Provincial Court and the Supreme Court can make orders about some of the same ''subjects'', but not all, and under some of the same ''legislation'', but not all. The Provincial Court can only deal with applications involving laws made by the provincial government and, even then, it cannot deal with applications involving the division of a property or debt, or adoption. In family law proceedings, the Provincial Court can only deal with applications involving the following subjects:
The Supreme Court, on the other hand, can deal with all of these subjects and everything else, like including divorce and other claims under the ''Divorce Act''.:
As you can see, if you wish to make claims about divorce, determining the parentage of a child, managing children's property, dividing property and debt, or protecting property, you must make your application to the Supreme Court. Otherwise, you can make your claim in either court. Making matters worse, there can be simultaneous court proceedings happening at the same time, involving the same people, and possibly the same problems, before both the Provincial Court and the Supreme Court. For example, an action a claim for a couple's divorce can be before the Supreme Court at the same time as an application about parental responsibilities and spousal support is being heard by the Provincial Court. That's not so bad, because each court is dealing with different legal issues. Where it gets hairy is when someone starts a claim in the Provincial Court — usually because that court doesn't charge filing fees and is a little bit easier to navigate — and the other side starts a claim in the Supreme Court on the same legal issues plus a few more that the Provincial Court can't deal with, like the division of property. In such a circumstancecases like that, either party can make an application that the proceedings in the Provincial Court be ''joined '' with those in the Supreme Court so that both court proceedings they are heard at the same time before the same court.
===The choice of law===